Prime Minister on the Day of the Armed Forces: We have fulfilled strategic promises in the defense and security domain

Top state officials on Monday attended a ceremony marking Croatian Armed Forces Day and underscored the importance of the defence system for stability in a changing security environment and underlined it was necessary to further modernise the army and strength the military industry which is 98% export orientated.

Addressing the audience, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic underscored that the government had fulfilled all its strategic obligations in the area of defence and security.

"We adopted a new homeland security strategy and law on homeland security and for the second time in row, we increased the defence allocation in the budget which is now at a level of 1.34% of GDP with a tendency of increasing," the prime minister said.

He said that investments were being made in the quality of life of Croatian soldiers, in equipment, modernisation and raising the standard of living of everyone working on protecting national interests.

"We are convinced that this is the best way to strengthen our security and our international status," Plenkovic underscored.

He in particular commended the decisions made by Defence Minister Damir Krsticevic who is working on having the Croatian Army re-established in Croatian cities which will involve the reconstruction of army barracks in those cities.

Speaking about the strategic decision to procure F 16 Barak fighter jets, the prime minister stressed  that this will change the nature and strength of the Croatian army in the long term and enable us "to be an important stakeholder in Southeast Europe and a reliable ally within the framework of NATO and a partner within the framework of the EU."

Text: Hina

News