ZAGREB, September 26, 2018 – Addressing the United National General Assembly on Wednesday, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović called on world leaders to common action, not just in crisis management situations and problem solutions but in spreading hope and optimism, recalling the recent success of Croatia’s national football team which showed that small countries like Croatia can inspire others to reach the top.
“The United Nations is a place where we must show our willingness to act together,” Grabar-Kitarović said in her address to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“Our adversaries are many: poverty, hunger, terrorism, extremism and instability, lack of education, gender inequality and exclusion of women in many societies, environmental hazards, endangered security and trampled human dignity,” she said, adding that world leaders “should think of ourselves as a team that needs to work together, to take advantage of our strengths and to address our weaknesses in order to make our world a better place and to inspire excellence globally.”
“We should lead not only in managing crises and solving problems, but in spreading hope and optimism as well. We must demonstrate our humanity, solidarity and compassion. In doing so, we must, above all else, respect each other. Respect is the most valuable asset,” she underlined.
She recalled the success of Croatia’s national football team at the World Cup in Russia, stressing that Croatia’s team inspired people throughout the world. “This summer – of all things – football triggered a global response, uniting us for a moment in our common aspirations for excellence,” said Grabar-Kitarović. She added that after that she received congratulations from around the globe, “from China, Australia and Saudi Arabia, from France, to Trinidad and Tobago and Nepal.”
“What I could read through each of them is that Croatia – a country not big in the size of its territory or its population or its economic means – has thus become a metaphor for all of these kind people, of what a country can do to inspire others and to arrive on top of the world, winning the hearts of people worldwide, and rousing enthusiasm that each of their countries can do the same,” she added.
“To excel you don’t need physical size; you need heart and persistence, and above all, you need to share a vision and to work together to make it happen. It is not the size of one’s territory that matters; it is the size and quality of ideas. Magnitude is not measured only in volume, but even more in determination to reach the goal,” Grabar-Kitarović said.
