ZAGREB, Jan 15, 2018 - During an official reception in the eastern Croatian town of Ilok on Monday, held on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of Croatia's international recognition and the 20th anniversary of the end of the peaceful reintegration of Croatia's Danube River region, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said that the Croatian people did not want war or its victims and that today, 27 years after the war, Croatia is offering Serbia a hand of peace and cooperation.
"The Republic of Croatia has been and will be a factor of peace and cooperation with all those who want that. Standing close to the border with Serbia, today too, we offer our neighbours a hand of peace and cooperation in the hope that we have a sincere collocutor in Serbia in the process of finding answers to outstanding bilateral issues as well as in cooperation on all matters and in new challenges that we may encounter in the future," President Grabar-Kitarovic said.
She in particular highlighted the role of the head of the UNTAES (UN Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium) mission, General Jacques Paul Klein, who, as she said, with his diplomatic skills and personal virtues contributed exceptionally to the success of that mission as did representatives of the Serb minority, who "at the time recognised that historic moment and contributed to the success of the peaceful reintegration."
"Looking toward a common future, Croatia provides lasting support to consolidating the wider European area through the accession of all of Southeast Europe into the European Union as well as NATO, for all those who wish that," she said.
In addition to the diplomatic corps accredited in Croatia, attending the reception were also European and Foreign Affairs Minister Marija Pejcinovic-Buric, Djakovo-Osijek Archbishop Djuro Hranic, Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Bozo Galic, Ilok Mayor Marina Budimir and Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava and many other public figures. The Apostolic Nuncio to Croatia, Msgr. Giuseppe Pinto, thanked the President for the reception on behalf of the diplomatic corps.
Grabar-Kitarovic said that in the past 27 years of its presence on the international scene, Croatia had become a member of the United Nations and many other global and European associations, in addition to achieving its primary foreign policy aim of joining the European Union and NATO.
"Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2020 should be a motivating factor, for the state administration and all citizens alike. We highly value our trans-Atlantic alliance and support the further strengthening of that alliance based on Croatia's credible and responsible contribution," she said, adding that she in particular underlines the Three Seas initiative which affirms the strong central European historical, spiritual, cultural, political and economic space, which, she said was fast becoming Europe's backbone for the benefit of peace, cooperation and progress of the countries included in it and the European Union overall.
She underscored the issue of demographic renewal which, as she said, many European countries are faced with, even those countries that are more economically developed than Croatia. That clearly indicates that the solution to that problem lies not only in economic development and material standards but also in the spiritual content on which the stable development of individual societies depends, such as culture, education and upbringing, she said, adding that in addition to creating prospects for the young, it is of primary importance to strengthen the substance of Europe's common identity.
According to the President, one of Croatia's policy priorities continues to be strengthening connections with the large diaspora, with Croatian minorities in European countries and with Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, "with whom we are connected by the same national interests, founded firmly in Croatia's Constitution and by the responsibility we have as a state signatory to the Washington and Dayton accords." Protection of the Croats as a constituent people and equality of all peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina is essential for the stability of Southeast Europe, she said.
