ZAGREB, November 3, 2018 - President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović welcomes the completion of negotiations on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration but has decided not to go to Marrakesh for its endorsement, of which the Croatian Foreign Ministry has been informed, her office said on Friday.
Addressing the UN General Assembly recently, the president welcomed the successful completion of the negotiations and announced that she would attend the conference in Marrakesh in December, but in the meantime she decided not to attend, officially notifying the Foreign Ministry, the president's office said in a press release.
According to unofficial information, the president's office was therefore taken aback by Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić's statement at an extraordinary press conference earlier today that she was surprised the president would not go to Marrakesh.
The Global Compact will not be officially signed in Morocco next month but receive political support from heads of state and government. The president's office did not say why she decided not to attend the conference.
It reiterated that the president saw the migration problem as a long standing issue requiring a common approach to the very source of migration. "The president advocates the continuation of dealing with the root causes, while looking for sustainable and lasting solutions to conflicts and crises," her office said.
The issue of the Global Compact and the conference in Marrakesh has been in the focus of media attention in the last few days, as rightwing part of the political spectrum has launched a pressure campaign on the president and the government to join several other countries which have decided not to sign the document. The allegations that the Compact would force Croatia take in many thousands of migrant have been strongly denied by the Foreign Ministry.
For more on the migrantion crisis and the Global Compact controversy, click here.
