Joint press point

Oana Lungescu (NATO Spokesperson): Good morning. Thank you for coming to this press point with the Secretary General and the President of the Republic of Croatia. We'll start with short introductions and then we'll be happy to take some questions.

Secretary General.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen (Secretary General of NATO): Thank you very much, good morning. The President and I have had a very constructive, a very positive meeting this morning. Croatia is a valued NATO ally, committed to our collective defence, and our operations. I have taken the opportunity to express my strong appreciation of Croatia's contributions to our operations, notably in Afghanistan, and in particular I appreciate that Croatia has taken on a leading role within training of Afghan soldiers and Afghan police.

I have also noted with satisfaction that Croatia has been very active in gathering countries from the region and pursuing collective approaches in cooperation within the so-called Adriatic Charter.

It is an excellent example of what I would like to see within NATO - multinational cooperation, pooling and sharing of resources, so that we make more efficient use of our resources.

All in all I think Croatia is an example to the rest of the Western Balkans of successful NATO integration. And Euro-Atlantic integration remains the most effective way to bring lasting stability to the region. And I would like to stress that we remain committed to our open door policy.

The recent arrest of Ratko Mladic sends a clear signal to the whole world that war crimes will eventually be punished. For the Western Balkans it is an important step towards the realization of our overall vision to see all countries in the region integrated in the European Union and NATO.

I would very much like to see all countries, including Serbia, included in the European Union and NATO.

We have discussed the situation in the region. The situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is increasingly worrying. We expect all political leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina to play a constructive and responsible role. It is time to find an agreement that will ultimately allow for functioning state institutions.

We fully support the aspiration of Bosnia-Herzegovina to one day become a NATO member. We will continue to provide technical assistance, including to reforms that are necessary for starting the Membership Action Plan. But the country's leaders must show the political will to put those reforms in place.

We also discussed other security policy issues. Let me just mention Libya. NATO allies and partners have decided to extend our mission in Libya by 90 days and this sends a clear message to the Qadhafi regime. We're determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya. We have the momentum and we will keep up the pressure until the mandate is fulfilled.

We are achieving our objectives and we are preventing Qadhafi from achieving his. Qadhafi has to go. It's not a matter of if, but when. So we have to plan for that day. Transition must be smooth, seamless and safe. We must avoid a security vacuum and we are ready to engage with other international organizations to make that happen.

Ivo Josipović (President of the Republic of Croatia): Thank you very much. As you heard we had really fruitful discussions. We discussed Croatian role in NATO, participation in different activities. Also we supported reform of the NATO led by Mr. Secretary General. Tomorrow is very important meeting of Ministers and I hope the result will be very positive for development in NATO.

Of course, we discussed Croatia participation, especially in Afghanistan. I'm happy to hear that our participation is on a high level, highly estimated by our allies. And I hope we are going together to finish this very, very important mission in Afghanistan.

Of course, we discussed enlargement policy and our common wish to include all countries from our neighbourhood, if, of course, they are fulfilling requirements, if they wish to perform all necessary reforms.

So for me it was very important meeting today and it will push our cooperation further. Thank you very much.

Oana Lungescu: Time for a few questions. We'll go to Croatian Radio/Television first.

Q: Mr. Secretary General, would you please share with us your expectations from Croatia regarding its future contribution to the mission in Libya?

Anders Fogh Rasmussen: We decided to take full responsibility for the operation in Libya, which means that all NATO allies are contributing through their membership of NATO, including Croatia. And that's actually one of the reasons why NATO decided to take full responsibility for the operation in Libya.

The UN Security Council took an historic decision to protect the civilian population in Libya against attacks from its own government. And that's a responsibility for all countries to live up to the decision taken by the UN Security Council. But for some countries the only possibility to contribute to implementing the UN Security Council Resolution is through an organization, a defence alliance like NATO. That was actually one of the arguments why we decided to take full responsibility for this operation. And by supporting that decision right from the outset Croatia has also made her contribution.

Oana Lungescu: I don't see any more questions. So with that, thank you very much.