Croatian Marshall Center graduates discussed their country’s status and responsibilities upon receiving the invitation to join NATO, at a roundtable hosted by the Croatian Military Academy Petar Zrinski June 3 in Zagreb. Sixty parliamentarians and security officials from the Ministries of Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs, including 22 alumni, gathered to hear the expert speakers.
The director of the military academy and president of the George C. Marshall Club, Maj Gen dr. sc. Mirko Sundov, gave the welcome remarks, along with other regional leaders of Marshall Center alumni associations: Brig. Hamza Visca (EP 2002-1) of Bosnia-Herzegovina; Marko Spirovski (LC 2002-3, LPASS 2005-1) of Macedonia and LTC Milan Tepsic (LC 2002-3, EPASS 2007-1) of Serbia.
Dr. sc. Krunoslav Antolis, executive director of the Croatian alumni association gave an opening address and introduced the topic of the roundtable. Assistant Minister, MFA, Pjer Simunovic (SES 1999-3) gave the keynote address, outlining Croatia’s future in NATO.
The main speakers included Prof. dr. sc. Juraj Bozicevic, president of the Croatian Society for Systems, who discussed critical national infrastructure; dr. sc. Miso Munivrana, head of the Office of the President of the Croatian Parliament, who spoke about parliament’s role in the process of joining NATO; Prof. dr. sc. Kresimir Cosic, President of the Croatian delegation to the NATO parliamentary assembly, who addressed the challenges in shaping the new NATO strategic concept and Col. James Howcroft, Marshall Center professor and Marine chair, who discussed ten lessons to learn from stability operations.
This roundtable was held in conjunction with a Stability Operations Seminar conducted by Marshall Center professors and attended by representatives of the Croatian MOD, MFA and MOI, as well as participants from Macedonia and Serbia. The alumni association, which was formed in 2004, has held three roundtables to date. Past roundtables covered challenges and problems to stability and new security threats in Southeastern Europe.
Regional alumni leaders meet at the start of the roundtable (left to right): Brigadier Hamza Visca (EP 2002-1), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mr. Marko Spirovski (LC 2002-3, LPASS 2005-1), Macedonia and LTC Milan Tepsic (LC 2002-3, EPASS 2007-1).
