BILATERAL AND MULTILATERAL MILITARY COOPERATION

Canadian troops had a leading role in the UN peacekeeping mission UNPROFOR in the Republic of Croatia during the Homeland war. Canadian troops were mainly deployed in sector West and South of the UNPROFOR. As Canada wanted to stay an impartial peacekeeper it was not possible to develop military and defence cooperation during their deployment in Croatia.

Since 2004 there has been some development in bilateral military and defence cooperation between the Republic of Croatia and Canada, mainly through the signing of bilateral and multilateral agreements.

The first Croatian Defence Minister Berislav Rončević visited Canada in October 2006, the first visit of CDS general rick Hillier in April 2008 and the first official visit of Canadian ND Minister in January 2009 announcing that Croatia had been listed on the Visiting Forces Act granting special status to Croatian officers entering Canada.

A significant area of cooperation has been the Military Training Assistance Program – MTAP in which the Canadian Department of National Defence offers training programs to senior military personal of the Croatian Armed Forces in languages, logistics etc.

On the multilateral level, Ministers of Defence of the Republic of Croatia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia signed a Memorandum on establishment and sustainability of a multinational logistics unit with the Department of National Defence of Canada on April 26th, 2006 in Bruxelles. This multinational troop could be deployed in diverse NATO led peacekeeping missions.