BRUSSELS, July 17 (Hina) - Croatia is firmly entering the Euro-Atlantic family and becoming an example for countries in the region, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in Brussels on Monday. Robertson held a joint press
conference with Croatian President Stipe Mesic following a NATO session attended by Mesic, who arrived in Brussels today and was the first Croatian President to address NATO's Council.
BRUSSELS, July 17 (Hina) - Croatia is firmly entering the Euro-
Atlantic family and becoming an example for countries in the
region, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in Brussels
on Monday.
Robertson held a joint press conference with Croatian President
Stipe Mesic following a NATO session attended by Mesic, who arrived
in Brussels today and was the first Croatian President to address
NATO's Council.#L#
Robertson said NATO was enthusiastic about the radical change in
Croatia's policy following elections earlier this year, reminding
that in the meantime Croatia had joined NATO's Partnership for
Peace programme.
The Secretary-General said that when he first met Mesic in Zagreb,
the Croatian President said Croatia was not interested in making
promises to the international community but in taking action which,
Robertson added, was what it had actually done.
We encourage Croatia to become an example for the region, he said,
assessing Croatia had turned its back to the egocentric and
nationalist policy of its past.
"Croatia's new policy has said what it wants, and that is the
achievement of strategic goals, namely access to the European Union
and NATO," President Mesic told the same news conference, adding
Croatia was working both on the internal and on the external scale
to achieve them.
"We have put a definite stop to the policy of isolation and want to
be the generator of European access" he said, adding this was one
way Croatia wanted to contribute to the European objective, namely
global association.
Addressing the NATO Council earlier, President Mesic said that
since this year's elections, Croatia "has perceptibly changed its
status on the international scene, becoming part of the solution
for the still unstable region of Southeast Europe."
He reminded Croatia's new policy had redefined its policy towards
neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina, changed its official policy in
connection with refugee returns, improved cooperation with the war
crimes tribunal in The Hague, and started a constructive policy in
the region.
"With its new policy, Croatia has come closer to meeting its
strategic goals, joining NATO and the EU, and will continue
intensifying the cooperation it has established," Mesic said at the
end of his address to the NATO Council.
Later at the press conference, reporters asked him who should
attend a summit of western Balkans countries and the EU in Zagreb in
the autumn at French President Jacques Chirac's initiative. Mesic
said the summit should gather countries interested in the stability
of the region, representatives of Montenegro's incumbent
authorities, and Serbia's democratic Opposition.
Both Mesic and Robertson voiced concern about the situation in
Montenegro, pointing out, however, they did not believe it would
escalate into another war on the Balkans.
(hina) ha