US embassy cable - 05ZAGREB177

UNCLAS  ZAGREB 000177 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, HR, Defense Reform (Mil & 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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