James Mattis, the U.S Secretary of Defence, will pay an official visit to Croatia. The 26th United States Secretary of Defence and former United States Marine Corps general will come to Croatia after he attends a NATO summit in Brussels.
During his official visit he will attend a meeting with the Croatian Minister of Defence as well as his Montenegrin counterpart, Predrag Boskovic, as part of the US-Adriatic Charter countries in Zagreb on the 13th of July.
The US-Adriatic Charter ministers are expected to discuss the stronger presence of the United States in Southeast Europe, steps that need to be taken to facilitate the integration of remaining aspirant countries with NATO, the security situation in Southeast Europe and a more equitable distribution of the burden of defence spending between the USA and Europe.
The US-Adriatic Charter is a partner regional initiative launched in 2003 by Croatia, Albania, Macedonia and the United States. In 2008 it was joined by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. The initiative's main mission is to provide support to Euro-Atlantic integration processes in Southeast Europe and enable all aspirant countries to join NATO as soon as possible.