Ante Kotromanović, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia and Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the EDA met yesterday to exchange views ahead of the June 2015 European Council and to discuss Croatia’s participation in EDA projects.
Minister Kotromanović underlined the important role of the Agency in fostering cooperation between Member States and improving their capabilities. He said: "We see the Agency as an important platform and mechanism for strengthening and further development of European defence capabilities. As a new EDA member, Croatia recognises the possibilities the Agency can provide to Member States, and we're analysing programmes in which we see the potential for cooperation. Those projects will have our full support.” The Minister also emphasised capacities and significance of the Croatian defence industry sector and its achievements. “I strongly believe we need to support participation of small and medium enterprises in cooperative programmes, where dual-use programmes have great importance and potential".
“Croatia has joined the European Defence Agency not even two years ago. Notwithstanding this short period of time, Croatia is actively participating in some of our key projects as for example the military implementation of the Single European Sky. The role of the Agency is to act as an interface between the European Commission and the national Ministries of Defence to ensure that the military views are well taken into account in the modernisation of the European skies. At the same time, we also inform the Member States of the latest developments in Brussels. The Agency can furthermore provide valuable support to the national defence industry and in particular small and medium sized enterprises by providing information on funding for dual-use research”, Jorge Domecq stated during his visit in Zagreb.
The visit also included meetings with other high-level officials of the Croatian Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Croatian Chamber of Economy. It is part of a series of visits by Mr. Domecq to all EDA Member States following his appointment as EDA Chief Executive and ahead of the Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2015. So far, Mr. Domecq visited Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
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