The "Immediate Response 11" is being held from 6 to 18 June, involving some 1,100 members of the armed forces, mainly from Croatia and the United States, and members of the armed forces of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The manoeuvres are being carried out with the aim of promoting regional stability and security and to strengthen inter-operability between NATO and partner countries. Also, one of the goals of this workshop is to prepare for participation in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan and the exchange of lessons learned from ISAF.
President Josipovic praised the participants for their readiness to response to all challenges.
Minister Bozinovic said that the future of the global peace lay in concerted efforts of NATO member states as well as in regional policies.
He expressed satisfaction with the evident success of the exercise, adding that the inter-operability is a key to efficient performance in multinational frameworks.
Diplomat Yee congratulated all soldiers for the excellent exercise, and congratulated Croatia for having got the go-ahead from the European Commission for the finalisation of the European Union membership talks.
He said that ties between Croatia which he said had made a dramatic progress in Euro-Atlantic integration over the last decade and his country were strongest so far.
Asked by reporters whether the criticism by U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates about the performance of the Allied forces in Afghanistan could also refer to Croatia's troops in the ISAF mission, Minister Bozinovic said that this was certainly not the case.
"The contribution of the Croatian troops to NATO in Afghanistan is ideal, we are the 11th-ranked country out of 48 countries and it speaks enough," he said.
The US military has donated USD 400,000 for seven new facilities at the "Eugen Kvaternik" military training area.