CROATIA WILLING TO PROCEED WITH EXPANSION OF THE

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000620 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR NATO AL MK HR SUBJECT: CROATIA WILLING TO PROCEED WITH EXPANSION OF THE ADRIATIC CHARTER REF: STATE 85946 ¶1. (SBU) Per reftel, Pol officer discussed the future of the Adriatic Charter on August 22 with Marina Rozic, Head of the NATO Department at the Croatian Foreign Ministry. Rozic said that Croatia wanted to continue cooperation with the A-3 countries as well as with other potential new members. The Croatian MFA and MOD had already started sharing information based on Croatia's experience with NATO with their Montenegrin counterparts. Her office was already informally cooperating with their Montenegrin counterparts on a public relations strategy for building support for NATO membership in Montenegro. Rozic noted that the GoC was also planning on holding consultations with Bosnia and Herzegovina some time in the fall on a number of security issues. She also agreed that the door should be left open for Serbia. ¶2. (SBU) Rozic inquired about the future status of Macedonia in the Adriatic Charter, given that Macedonia had fulfilled the requirements to receive an invitation to NATO but still had not received such an invitation. She expressed the hope that Macedonia would soon receive an invitation, but if this did not happen it would raise questions as to what Macedonia's role should be in any future arrangement. Croatia could serve as a "mentor" to Bosnia and Montenegro, but this relationship would not be appropriate for the GoC's relations with Macedonia. She agreed with Pol Off that it would be important to include Macedonia in any future arrangement and that Skopje could also play a mentoring role for the new members. ¶3. (SBU) Rozic was not surprised that DoD's participation might diminish based on upon available resources. Rozic did ask whether the USG believed that any changes to the Adriatic Charter would require a new agreement that would need to be signed by the previous and new members alike. She raised the possibility that the Adriatic Charter could move ahead as a "gentlemen's agreement" with the new potential members so that a new formal document would not be required, but would appreciate USG views on the issue. Bradtke