ADRIATIC CHARTER MINISTERIAL REAFFIRMS REGIONAL

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000177

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL MARR HR NATO
SUBJECT: ADRIATIC CHARTER MINISTERIAL REAFFIRMS REGIONAL
COOPERATION


SUMMARY and COMMENT
--------------


1. (SBU) Adriatic Charter Defense Ministers endorsed an
ambitious agenda of 21 joint activities for 2005 that begins
to bring much-needed substance to the Adriatic Charter
dialogue. Although the planned August 2005 deployment of an
A3 medical team to Afghanistan remains the most visible
"deliverable" of the A3, in their joint statement, the
Defense Ministers opened the door to enhancing joint
counter-terrorism activities. All participants endorsed
expanding regional cooperative defense activities, including
Partnership for Peace, to Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia
and Herzegovina once those two countries had fulfilled
current conditions, i.e. full cooperation with the ICTY.
Interestingly, in Joint Statement discussions, Macedonia
proposed an executive level steering group to work on
exchanging information that would enhance co-operation on
measures and tools for counter-proliferation. Albania's
Minister of Defense specifically resisted establishing the
Executive Steering group or even a working group on the
subject. The final version of paragraph 6 of the Joint
Statement, while still calling for increased cooperation, is
a watered down version of the Macedonian-proposed and
Croatian-supported proposal. END SUMMARY and COMMENT.


2. (SBU) Ministers of Defense from Croatia, Albania, and
Macedonia plus U.S. Department of Defense and Embassy Zagreb
representatives were joined by Ministers of Defense from
Serbia and Montenegro (SaM) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)
on January 25 for a U.S.-Adriatic Charter (A3) Defense
Ministerial focused on approving an aggressive agenda of
joint activities for 2005. Senior Defense Ministry officials
from Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, and Slovenia
also participated in the dialogue, joined by the Romanian
Ambassador to Croatia and a NATO representative.


3. (SBU) Croatian Defense Minister Berislav Roncevic opened
the meeting by noting the positive evolution of the A3 from a
forum for dialogue to a forum for joint activity. Roncevic
stated that the partners had demonstrated the "seriousness of
the A3 in pursuing a joint path to NATO." He noted that the
extensive, multi-level A3 dialogue of 2004 was being
supplemented with an aggressive schedule of joint activities
in 2005, highlighted by the planned August deployment of a
joint medical team to Afghanistan. Roncevic welcomed the
participation of SaM and BiH Defense Ministers in the A3
dialogue and said all countries represented were welcome to
observe A3 activities. Croatian Parliament Deputy Speaker
Luka Bebic told the participants that NATO's open door policy
encourages A3 members to implement the necessary reforms to
become members.


4. (SBU) Albanian Defense Minister Pandeli Majko welcomed
U.S. support for the A3 and outlined the status and
priorities for Albania's defense conversion process. Majko
said that force reduction and professionalization were
underway, civilian control over the military was being
consolidated, and chemical weapons stocks were being
destroyed. Albania currently deploys five percent of its
military in peacekeeping operations to Iraq, Afghanistan,
Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Current priorities were
completing force restructuring and professionalization,
modernizing equipment, and adapting logistics capacities to
NATO systems. Noting the importance of a NATO presence to
stability in Kosovo and the region, Majko said the GoA hoped
to expand the Partnership for Peace (PfP) to all Southeast
Europe to promote further reforms and political stability.


5. (SBU) Macedonian Defense Minister Jovan Manasievski said
that the A3 shows the members' political commitment to
regional cooperation. Touching a theme that every other
speaker echoed, Manasievski said that the GoM would welcome
SaM and BiH participation in PfP "as soon as possible."
Manasievski said that aside from procuring equipment for
NATO-designated units, the GoM's other priority was to
achieve fully proportionate minority representation in the
military by 2007.


6. (SBU) The United States was represented by Mr. Alan Van
Egmond, Director of Balkans and Eurasia Programs in the
Office of the Secretary of Defense. The full text of his
comments is available at
. These comments
highlighted several regional issues that will be important
for 2005 including Defense Reform, the Proliferation Security


Initiative, Kosovo, Indicted War Criminals, as well as
contributions to regional and international security.


7. (SBU) Other speakers largely stuck to well-established
positions. In forward-leaning remarks, Turkey's
Representative stated unambiguously that the next NATO summit
should be an "expansion summit" at which Croatia, Macedonia
and Albania should all be issued membership invitations.
Serbia and Montenegro Defense Minister Davinic stressed
progress in defense reforms and depoliticization of the
military. However, he admitted that a greater challenge is
changing the mind-set of individuals. While SaM would like
to be part of PfP, Davinic acknowledged that the main
obstacle was "our lack of cooperation with the ICTY." Bosnia
and Herzegovina Defense Minister Radovanovic welcomed the
expressions of political will to broaden regional defense
cooperation and said BiH was a credible candidate for PfP.


8. (U) Text of Joint Statement follows:

US-Adriatic Charter
Defence Ministerial
Zagreb, January 25, 2005

Joint Statement


1. We, the Ministers of Defence of the Republic of Albania,
the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia,
together with a representative from the United States
Department of Defence, gathered today in Zagreb for the
US-Adriatic Charter Third Ministerial Meeting;


2. Building on the Joint Statement adopted at the Partnership
Commission Meeting in Brijuni on 12 November 2004, we are:

- re-affirming our commitment to the principles of the
Charter;

- confirming our readiness to further enhance co-operation in
order to achieve our common goal: the full integration of
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia into NATO;

- endorsing the conclusions of the EAPC Ministerial Meeting
held on 9 December 2004, in Brussels; and

- continuing our support for NATO,s presence in the region.


3. We wish to express our gratitude to the United States, to
our neighbouring countries in the region, and NATO-EU member
countries for their firm support to our common efforts on our
way to membership.


4. We underscore the achievements related to the full
implementation of the Action Plan in the year 2004, and we
endorse the Action plan for 2005.


5. We confirm our commitment to presenting a combined medical
unit for deployment to the NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force Mission in Afghanistan.


6. We reconfirm our will to broaden Adriatic co-operation in
the Global War on Terrorism. Following international
conventions on the counter-proliferation of WMD, we will
enhance the exchange of information on measures to expand
co-operation in this area.


7. We strongly believe our co-operation is an important
instrument for promoting regional security and stability. In
this spirit, we confirm our further commitment to supporting
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro in their
efforts to join NATO,s Partnership for Peace Programme as
soon as possible.


8. Following the conclusions from the Istanbul Summit, we
expect NATO,s Foreign Ministers to review the progress made
by Albania, Croatia and Macedonia towards full membership in
NATO on an individual basis.


9. We agree that the next Defence Ministerial will be held in
Albania.

For the Republic of Albania
Mr. Pandeli Majko

For the Republic of Croatia
Mr. Berislav Roncevic


For the Republic of Macedonia
Mr. Jovan Manasijevski

For the United States of America
Mr. Alan Van Egmond

END TEXT of Joint Statement


10. (U) OSD Policy Cleared on this message.
FRANK


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