NATO HQ 13 June 2003

The Partnership's Role in Addressing the New Security Challenges Address by H.E. Zeljka Antunovic, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia EAPC, Brussels, June 13, 2003 Mr. Secretary General, Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is my pleasure and honour to address this distinguished forum. Croatia values the EAPC as an important mechanism for an open dialogue between Allies and Partners, and as a proven tool for fostering closer transatlantic cooperation. We believe that the EAPC and PfP will preserve their relevance to NATO and the Partner countries in the face of often dramatic changes within the Euro-Atlantic community and beyond. This is why we advocate further improvements. For example, existing EAPC consultation mechanisms could be further developed to increase the EAPC's decision making authority in specific areas where Partners participate. At the Prague Summit, NATO has reached an important milestone that will affect not only Allies but Partners as well. We congratulate NATO and the seven new invitees. The decision to enlarge the Alliance confirms both the readiness and potential of the invited Partners, as well as NATO's resolve to strengthen the community of nations sharing democratic ideals and values. Croatia sees the enlargement of NATO as one of the fundamental factors in addressing new security challenges and promoting stability and co-operation in the Euro-Atlantic area. Membership in NATO remains one of Croatia's top two priorities and Croatia will work closely with all aspirants, as we share a common vision of NATO membership. I do not believe demanding challenges will wither away in the future. In the near-term. NATO's agenda will continue to be filled with old and familiar tasks as well as newly important issues. These include: integrating new members in the Alliance, harmonizing defence efforts with the European Union, developing missions in new areas, and especially facing asymmetrical security threats, combating terrorism and curbing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Terrorism constitutes perhaps the single-greatest threat to the fundamental principles of democracy and international order. We welcome NATO's initiative to mobilize and reorganize Ally and Partner efforts in combating terrorism through the PAP-T mechanism (Partnership Action Plan against Terrorism). Croatia is fully committed to bearing its share in combating terrorism as part of the international anti-terrorist coalition. We have updated our legal procedures and strengthened our institutional structures. We have recently proven our capabilities in compliance with requests to freeze assets of suspected terrorists. Likewise, Croatia has significantly increased its co-operation in the field of intelligence sharing. We have placed special emphasis on border control. On a regional level, Croatia is stepping up co-operation with all its neighbours, where issues of border security receive a particular attention. Croatia has relaxed visa regimes with its neighbours. At the same time Croatia has increased institutional cooperation on border control and in combating illegal migration, smuggling and trafficking. We see even greater room for PfP involvement in this area, particularly by relying on expert advice, NATO's organizational capabilities and a trust fund mechanism. Croatia welcomes the intentions of both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro to develop closer relations with NATO and the EU. Croatia can witness that PfP provides extremely useful tools in efforts to tackle common regional security concerns, to undertake defence reforms, foster further development of democratic institutions and much more. Croatia stands ready to provide assistance and share its experience in order to help its neighbours explore fully all the opportunities of the PfP program. Croatia's multi-regional approach enables us to participate in the number of regional initiatives. These are: the Central European Nations Co-operation in Peace Support (CENCOOP), Quadrilateral initiative, the Southeast Europe Defence Ministerial (SEDM) and other regional efforts. We fully believe in a regional approach to the practical, burden-sharing challenge of peace support operations and have thus placed great importance on joining Italy, Slovenia and Hungary in developing the capabilities of the Multinational Land Force (MLF). Croatia has demonstrated its commitment to contributing to security and stability by taking a more active role in 5 international peace support missions. One of them is our MP platoon successfully participating in ISAF. We will continue to take part in ISAF. We are also exploring other ways of assisting the people of Afghanistan, such as, possible offer of training expertise for the newly created Afghanistan army. At the beginning of April, the Croatian Government has decided to provide humanitarian assistance to Iraq amounting to cca 3 million USD. Also, the Croatian Government is currently considering how best to contribute to stability of Iraq in post-conflict period. Finally, I believe that it is of great importance for the Alliance to maintain its "open-door" policy. This policy has been and will continue to be a decisive factor in promoting security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area. Thank you.