Croatia, Albania, Macedonia to strengthen cooperation in their NATO bids

TIRANA, Oct. 23 – Albania, Croatia and Macedonia pledged this week to further strengthen their cooperation in their efforts to become a North Atlantic Treaty Organization member by 2008. Their military chiefs-of-staff met in Zagreb, Croatia wile parliamentarians met in Tirana Monday. Hoping to join NATO by 2008, the three countries have signed the Adriatic 3 Charter, a U.S.-backed initiative outlining a common military strategy and promoting regional cooperation.
Albanian, Croatian and Macedonian legislators urged NATO to give a green light to their membership bids, pledging further reforms of their armed forces and support to the alliance’s anti-terrorism efforts around the world. NATO countries meet next month in Riga, Latvia, for a summit to discuss strengthening and transforming the alliance to meet the key security challenges of the 21st century. The summit will not address the expansion of the alliance, though some candidate countries say NATO should send a signal at the summit of a willingness to expand its membership. A NATO summit in Washington in 2008 is expected to take up the issue of new membership bids.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia strongly believe that the “Riga summit will seriously consider the efforts and accomplishments of A3 countries to get fully integrated into NATO, and will decide to extend an invitation to Albania, Croatia and Macedonia to join the … (alliance) in the next NATO summit of 2008,” according to a joint statement. The countries have troops in Afghanistan, and Macedonia and Albania also have sent soldiers to Iraq.
On Monday, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said his government is ready to contribute peacekeeping troops to an international mission in Lebanon and also to increase its presence in Afghanistan, adding they were ready “to pay any price … (to) deserve the invitation for full membership.”
The countries pledged they would work further to “enhance democratic institutions, rule of law, and civil society, protect; and respect the human rights and civil liberties of all individuals, encourage market economies, and NATO-compatible militaries in order to strengthen security, stability and prosperity in their countries, region and beyond.” They also pledged to promote bilateral and multilateral political, defense, and economic cooperation,.. intensify the fight against corruption, organized crime, terrorism, illicit trafficking of arms, drugs, human beings, and other forms of transnational crime.”
In Skopje the Presidents of Macedonia and Croatia pledged to work together to achieve their countries’ common goal of membership in the European Union and NATO. “We have to work hard to turn this region into an area of stability and prosperity. The time of wars in the Balkans is far behind us,” visiting Croatian President Stjepan Mesic told reporters after meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Branko Crvenkovski. “We share the same past, but we also have the same future _ to become members of the European Union and NATO,” Crvenkovski said. The presidents signed a joint statement promising to “focus all their energy” on achieving their common strategic goals of integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions, peace, stability and prosperity. “The dates for joining the EU and NATO are not so important. It is much more important that European values, standards and democracy be implemented in our countries. We can do that and our path will be successful only if we help each other,” Mesic told parliament.
The three army chiefs-of-staff – Croatia’s Josip Lucic, Macedonia’s Miroslav Stojanovski and Albania’s Luan Hoxha – expressed readiness to exchange their experiences in modernizing their armies with other countries in the region that seek membership in the alliance.
All three countries have troops in Afghanistan, and Macedonia and Albania also sent soldiers to Iraq. Croatia opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq and refused to send troops there, insisting the intervention should have been authorized by the U.N. However, it recently got a strong boost for its NATO bid from U.S. President George W. Bush, who told visiting Prime Minister Ivo Sanader he would recommend the 2008 timetable for Croatia’s membership when he meets with NATO leaders at a summit next month in Riga, Latvia.
Meanwhile, in Skopje, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs encouraged Macedonia to press ahead with reforms that will increase the country’s chances of joining the EU and NATO. After meeting with Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki, Rosemary DiCarlo said reforms of the judiciary and police force and intensifying the fight against corruption needed special attention.