ZAGREB, February 6, 2020 – Outgoing President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said in Zagreb on Wednesday that she was proud of Croatia’s achievements on the home and foreign policy fronts during her five-year term, underlining the importance of the Three Seas Initiative.
Speaking at a reception for the heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations in Croatia, Grabar-Kitarović said that she had worked to fulfil her constitutional role of a foreign policy co-creator.
“I dedicated my term to promoting relations between Croatia and your countries, of which I visited many or met for talks with your heads of state and other senior officials in Croatia,” said Grabar-Kitarović, who since 2015 has visited 50 countries on five continents.
Commenting on the Croatian EU presidency in the first half of 2020, President Grabar-Kitarović recalled that in her speeches on Croatia and Europe’s future she had often underlined the importance of European consolidation, notably in the context of Brexit.
“One of the achievements I take most pride in is the Three Seas Initiative, which has brought together 12 EU members whose aim is to overcome internal imbalances by removing artificial divisions between the old and new member-states and consolidating Europe, its market and territory,” she said.
“Today, the countries of the Three Seas Initiative contribute to strengthening the EU’s unity, to greater cohesion and connectivity and to its further integration,” she said.
Grabar-Kitarović also recalled her project “Sense Croatia” as part of which members of the diplomatic corps had the opportunity to visit different parts of the country, stressing that she had worked on Croatia’s branding at home and abroad.
She added that she had dealt with the problem of population loss, one of the most serious problems faced by many countries, which, she said, had been put high on the EU’s agenda thanks to her and the government’s efforts.
“As the first Croatian woman president and the president of the Council of Women World Leaders, I hope that I have helped many young women break through their own ‘glass ceilings’, inspiring and motivating them and showing them what can be achieved,” she concluded.
The head of the diplomatic corps, Apostolic Nuncio Giorgio Lingua, thanked the outgoing president on behalf of the diplomatic corps.
He underlined her “praiseworthy” efforts to promote regional reconciliation and development as well as the Three Seas Initiative, noting that it was important not only for the countries it directly concerned but also for the entire EU and transatlantic relations.
Speaking of Croatia’s EU presidency, Lingua said that it offered a great opportunity for the country to become, through organisation of many events, even more well-known and respected in Europe and the rest of the world.
Lingua also congratulated Grabar-Kitarović on her reaction to the announcement of results of the recent presidential election, whose second round on January 5 was won by Zoran Milanović.
Your well-chosen words and extended hand to Mr Milanović in a particularly sensitive moment set an example for the entire world of civility and democracy, in which the common good comes before personal interests, he said.
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