Croatian Defence Minister Mario Banozic met on Friday with the commander of NATO's KFOR mission, Major General Ferenc Kajári, whom he thanked for everything he was doing to make the mission in Kosovo a success, praising also members of the Croatian Armed Forces taking part in it.

Minister Banozic told Major General Kajári at the KFOR headquarters, located in Camp Film City, that he was proud of the fact that members of the Croatian Armed Forces had been involved for 12 years already in preserving peace and security in Kosovo, the Ministry of Defence said.

Preserving peace and security in Kosovo, as well as in Southeast Europe, is of great importance to Croatia and to NATO, Banozic said, underscoring that a destabilisation of the security situation in the region would greatly affect the security situation of the entire Europe.

That is why Croatia decided to increase its participation in KFOR as of spring 2021, he said, adding that the Croatian Armed Forces would continue participating in NATO’s mission in the future.

The minister thanked Major General Kajári for everything he was doing to ensure this NATO’s mission would also be a success and he stressed he was certain that soldiers would do their best to master the tasks under his command. Major General Kajári, who had only words of praise for Croatian soldiers, agreed with him.

At the KFOR headquarters, Banozic also met with the Commander of the 36th Croatian contingent, Kreso Tusek, and said that Croatian soldiers would always have support for performing all their tasks and activities.

In the afternoon, Minister Banozic and his delegation at Camp Villagio were also scheduled to meet members of the 36th Croatian contingent, the press release said.