Croatia Gets NATO Peace Partnership Bid

ZAGREB, Croatia —  NATO on Wednesday invited Croatia to join its Partnership for Peace program, a move that Prime Minister Ivica Racan said will boost attempts to revive the country’s sagging economy.

The decision is the first formal and tangible reward for the new reformist government, which ousted nationalists from power three months ago and reversed their anti-European policies.

The invitation was extended at a meeting in Brussels of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, which consists of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 19 members and 26 Partnership for Peace countries.

“By turning its back on nationalist rhetoric and policies, Croatia has now become an example for its neighbors and an inspiration for moderate forces throughout the region,” NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in a statement.

“By promoting peace and stability in the Balkans, Croatia has demonstrated that the future of the region can be bright. By sharing our values, Croatia has won its place in the Euro-Atlantic family.”

Racan said the admittance is very important from the point of view of global business, which Croatia hopes to attract.

“For foreign investment, direct investment, economic growth, new jobs, this is a very welcome move,” a visibly pleased Racan told journalists at an impromptu news conference in Zagreb, the capital.

Croatia, held at arm’s length by NATO while the late autocrat Franjo Tudjman was in power, now joins former Yugoslav republics Slovenia and Macedonia in the Euro-Atlantic council. Balkan neighbor Albania also is a member.

The 6-year-old Partnership for Peace seeks to develop a new security relationship between NATO and partner states by intensifying political and military cooperation.

Its key aims are to increase stability and diminish threats to peace in the post-Cold War environment, as well as promote democracy.