February the 26th, 2022 - Ten Croatian soldiers are being sent out as part of NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), which the Republic of Croatia has said it has done as a responsible NATO country.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, at a recently held session, the Croatian Government adopted the Draft Proposal of the Decision on the Declaration of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia within the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force from the NATO Response Force (NRF).
At the session, Minister of Defense Mario Banozic noted that the Decision on the Establishment of a NATO Response Force was adopted back in 2002 at the NATO Summit in the Czech capital city of Prague, and at the NATO Summit in Wales back in 2014, a decision was adopted to establish NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force.
''In order to contribute to Euro-Atlantic security, the Republic of Croatia has recognised the importance of active participation in the High Readiness Joint Task Force and, in accordance with the possibilities, has declared the forces and their composition. Therefore, at the proposal of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, back in 2015 the Croatian Parliament made a decision on the possibility of engaging forces within the High Readiness Joint Task Force from the NATO Response Force,'' said Minister Banozic.
''An analysis of the possibility of declaring these forces has been carried out at the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces. In accordance with that, this Decision proposes the declaration of up to ten members of the Croatian Armed Forces for engagement within the High Readiness Joint Task Force from the NATO Response Force in 2022 and 2023,'' the Minister pointed out.
The declaration of the engagement of 10 Croatian soldiers is in line with the national interests of the Republic of Croatia, as a responsible member of NATO, which continues to build international credibility and actively contributes to the collective defense of the Alliance and security of the Euro-Atlantic area, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
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