ÔÔÔ  accreditation by 10 may 2002  ÔÔÔ 

Forest fires can be a curse during the Mediterranean summer season. It is against this background that Croatia and NATO are conducting an international forest fire fighting exercise in cooperation with the Stability Pact 22-24 May 2002 in the Makarska area (Croatia).

The exercise, labelled "Taming the Dragon – Dalmatia 2002" is the biggest ever conducted in Europe, with 28 countries involved: 13 participating countries (Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, FYR Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine)), and 15 observing (Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, FR Yugoslavia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Spain, Turkey, UK, USA). 

Up to 1000 participants, including close to 100 fire fighting and rescue teams will participate in 67 events at the exercise. It is a joint military-civilian operation, which will mark an important step on the way to establishing regional cooperation amongst the various disaster relief units in Southeastern Europe and Nato's Euro Atlantic Disaster Response Unit.

The exercise will be conducted near the cities of Trogir, Ploce, Imotski and Sinj (Makarska Riviera) on a stretch of the Dalmatian coast, where topography provides for excellent conditions for conducting the exercise as well as for viewing it. This event holds several highlights, especially for picture press, to which you are kindly invited. They include air reconnaissance, fire fighting by helicopter, rescue operations for trapped fire fighters, simulated traffic accidents with hazardous materials etc.

On the first two days of the exercise (22nd and 23rd May), several teams will be performing exercises on up to ten locations. 

On the third day of the exercise (24th May), a major demonstration on one location is foreseen. A summary of all the exercises the national teams from the participating countries performed during the first two days will be given. It is also VIP day. 

Accreditation: Media are kindly invited to register with the Croatian Ministry of the Interior, Public Relations Department, Tel. +385 (1) 6122-353, before 10 May 2002.Accreditation forms can be downloaded from http://www.mup.hr/vijesti/zmaj/vjezba.html (Croatian) or here (English). The registration form should be sent to the following fax numbers: +385 (1) 612 27 71 or +385 (1) 612 2063, or e-mail address: zbardic@mup.hr. 

Press Centre: there is a Press Centre in Basko Polje. It will be equipped with computers as well as with telephones and fax lines. The representatives of media will receive all the material regarding the parts of the exercise they want to cover. Professional camera crew will be filming the last day of the exercise. Their material will be put at disposal of journalists. 

Press Briefings: At the Press Centre, at least one briefing a day will be held, as well as a press conference(s) as needed. The Public Relations Team [ Tel. +385 (1) 6122-353 ] will - upon request - organise additional contacts, interviews, visits to national teams, etc. 

Location exercise site: http://www.nato.int/eadrcc/images/tdragon2002/exercise-sites.jpg 

Websites: 

http://www.stabilitypact.org/stabilitypactcgi/catalog/cat_descr.cgi?subcat=1&prod_id=48#dragon(Stability Pact) 

http://www.mup.hr/vijesti/zmaj/vjezba.html(Croatia) 

http://www.nato.int/eadrcc/tdragon/exercice2002.htm(NATO) 

Contact numbers: 

NATO:Ms. Ariane Quentier, Press Officer, Relations with Media (dealing with South Eastern European issues)
Tel. +32 (2) 707.14.59; Fax. +32 (2) 707.50.57 / 58 

Croatia:Ms. Zinka Bardic, Spokesperson of the Minister of Interior (press)
Tel. +385 (1) 6122 353; Fax. + 385 (1) 6122 771

Ms. Arabela Vahtaric (observers and VIP guests, visas)
Tel. + 385 (1) 2391 530; Fax. + 385 (1) 2391 491

Stability Pact: Mr. Roland Bless, Spokesperson
Tel. +32 (2) 401 87 25; Fax. +32 (2) 401 87 12
Mobile: +32 (478) 974 655

Ms. Cvetka Krajic Tomin , Executive Secretary of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Initiative (DPPI)
Tel. +32 (2) 401 61 99; Fax. +32 (2) 401 87 12