In a letter the ministry delivered to Hina, Jurica said that the recent media reports on his appointment to the foreign minister's post called for "publicly denying such speculation" and saying that he "is not a candidate" for the post.
Jurica said the ambassadorship in the US was demanding and that he wanted to tackle it in the best possible way.
He went on to say that his current stay in Croatia at the invitation of the state leadership was due to consultations on the further strengthening of Croatia-US relations at a time when a senior Defence Department delegation was visiting Croatia.