NATO MEMBER AMBASSADORS IN CROATIA AGREE TO SUPPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000180

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE and EUR/RPM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL NATO KPOA HR
SUBJECT: NATO MEMBER AMBASSADORS IN CROATIA AGREE TO SUPPORT
GOC PUBLIC OUTREACH EFFORTS


SUMMARY AND COMMENT
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1. (SBU) At a gathering of Ambassadors and military attaches
from twenty NATO-member countries on February 9 hosted by
Ambassador Frank, the assembled Ambassadors agreed to take a
more active, public role in supporting the GoC's public
education efforts in support of NATO membership. Hungary -
as NATO Contact Point embassy - briefed on the GoC plans to
use NATO PD resources to ramp up its public outreach
campaign. In a follow up meeting with Ambassador Frank
February 10, GoC NATO Coordinator and Assistant Minister of
Foreign Affairs Pjer Simunovic explained that the GoC
campaign is now getting started in earnest. Simunovic noted
that the GoC had no choice but to wait to launch its
campaign until Croatia's NATO prospects were clarified by
the December 2005 arrest of ICTY fugitive Ante Gotovina.


2. (SBU) Post has launched its own effort to complement the
GoC public education campaign. We intend to coordinate
closely with NATO allies and develop opportunities for joint
outreach with a core group of interested Ambassadors from
France, Germany, Norway, Canada, Hungary, Romania and
Netherlands. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT.

GETTING THE WORD OUT TOGETHER
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3. (SBU) On February 9, Post hosted a gathering of
ambassadors and military attaches from all NATO-member
countries with resident missions in Croatia. Our objective
was to generate allied support for the GoC's nascent NATO
public education campaign. The assembled ambassadors agreed
that it was time to put an international face on NATO in
Croatia. A core group of ambassadors - France, Germany,
Norway, Canada, Hungary, Romania and Netherlands - agreed to
work together to create opportunities to speak together
publicly on NATO themes.

GoC in the Lead
--------------


4. (SBU) Hungary, as NATO Contact Point embassy, briefed on
upcoming public outreach opportunities the GoC had developed
in coordination with NATO international staff. In the next
seven weeks alone, the GoC will take advantage of visits by
DSYG Minuto Rizzo and the NATO IS PARP assessment team and
conduct two journalist education seminars to bring better
information about NATO to the public attention. The
Hungarian Embassy offered to act as a clearing house for
tracking public outreach efforts and will host a
brainstorming session in April on public messaging on NATO
for member-country embassies.


5. (SBU) Following post's roundtable, but in advance of his
departure for Washington for the Adriatic Charter
Ministerial, GoC NATO Coordinator and Assistant Minister of
Foreign Affairs Pjer Simunovic briefed Ambassador Frank on
GoC's nascent public education campaign. Simunovic said
that the GoC believed it could not start the campaign while
Croatia's candidacy was effectively suspended pending the
capture of ICTY fugitive Ante Gotovina. After Gotovina's
arrest December 8, Simunovic explained, the GoC's prospect
for an invitation became more realistic, making it possible
to build a campaign.


6. (SBU) Simunovic admitted that the framework of the GoC
public information campaign was only now firming up, but
noted that important elements have already been developed
and are being deployed. The MFA's NATO web page was fully
populated with NATO background information in Croatian and
an MFA staffer is updating the site daily and moderating a
NATO webchat on the site. A pilot for a series of
university discussion seminars was launched at Zagreb
University last week drawing on local experts, including
former Croatian Ambassador to the U.S. Ivan Grdesic.
Simunovic offered to brief our NATO group on his return from
Washington.

OUR ACTION PLAN
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7. (SBU) To complement the GoC effort, Post has developed a
six-point message for use as appropriate by embassy staff in
all public outreach events on what we believe NATO
membership means to Croatia. Our message is that NATO means
Community, Capability, Responsibility, Influence, Security,
and Sovereignty. We will encourage all U.S. visitors to
elaborate on these themes in their public outreach events.

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In addition to encouraging our allies' embassies to draw on
these themes, we will follow up with the most active
missions to create opportunities for joint public
appearances for ambassadors to help put an international
face on NATO in Croatia.

FRANK