ZAGREB, 5 April 2022 - Croatia and the United States on Monday signed an agreement on Croatia's entry into the Global Entry program, which will grant some Croatian nationals privileged entry into the US.

Croatia has become the fourth European country to enter this program. Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović said: "This is an expedited procedure that America grants only to those countries and systems with which it has achieved this level of trust."

Global Entry is a program of the US Department of Homeland Security that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved travellers upon arrival in the United States. Such travellers will not have to wait in a line to get through border control, said Gabriel Escobar, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs and Special Envoy to the Western Balkans.

He said this agreement with Croatia signals the level of trust the US has in its Croatian partners, and the level of their strategic relationship and friendship.

Washington has signed this agreement with only three other European countries - Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

As of October last year, Croatian nationals no longer need a visa for trips to the United States of up to 90 days.

"This is a firm pledge for our future cooperation. There are a lot of challenge before us - the war in Ukraine and everything that contemporary threats bring. That's why we have services working together on a daily basis, exchanging information and fighting together in a world full of challenges to preserve what is the most valuable to us, and that is our way of life," Božinović said, adding that this was the 12th agreement signed with the US in the last five years.

In addition to the Global Entry agreement, Božinović and Escobar also signed the Partnership for Education agreement, which aims to increase the capabilities of the police in Croatia and the Western Balkans in combating transnational crime and terrorism.

We are looking forward to greater cooperation in discovering, countering and deterring transnational organised crime and terrorist actors in the Western Balkans, Escobar said.

The Croatian-US forum marking the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries ends on Tuesday.