ZAGREB, July 26, 2019 – Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is travelling to Israel on Sunday for a state visit during which she will meet with her host, President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein and Foreign Minister Israel Katz for talks on many topics of common interest, from the economy to cooperation in security and defence.
This will be the first state visit by a Croatian president to Israel and is an indicator of the continuation of the partnership between the two countries as well as of Croatia’s strategic commitment to a close cooperation with this, as Ambassador Ilan Mor recalls, geographically and geostrategically isolated Middle Eastern state.
President Rivlin paid a two-day state visit to Croatia a year ago, while President Grabar-Kitarović met with PM Netanyahu in Jerusalem in 2015.
Monday is reserved for talks with the state leadership and a visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, which the Croatian president already visited in July 2015 during a working visit to Israel. On that occasion she expressed deep sorrow for those killed in the Holocaust in Croatia under the WWII Ustasha regime, which she said “cast a stain on our country.”
The two sides will renew a memorandum of cooperation in Holocaust research between Croatia’s Science and Education Ministry and Education Agency and Yad Vashem.
On Tuesday, Grabar-Kitarović will visit the port of Haifa where she will inaugurate a catamaran built in Croatia. She will be accompanied by Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat and an executive of the Port of Rijeka. The two ports are scheduled to sign a cooperation agreement.
Although Croatia’s attempt to buy Israeli fighter jets last year failed, there are indications that other elements from that deal are continuing, and negotiations are expected to continue on the construction of an ammunition factory in Croatia.
The Croatian president will also visit Nazareth on Tuesday.
She will wrap up her visit on Wednesday with a meeting on cyber security, on which the two countries will sign a cooperation agreement.
More news about relations between Croatia and Israel can be found in the Politics section.
