Wrapping up her three-day working visit to the United States, Grabar-Kitarovic on Saturday met for talks with Anamarija Frankic, a professor at Massachusetts University in Boston, on several projects aimed at the protection of the environment and sustainable development.
"Environment protection is the only chapter (from the acquis communautaire) which the European Commission highlighted as the only area in which Croatia will need a long-term transitional period and significant financial means and expert assistance to solve all the problems," the minister told Croatian reporters in Washington after her talks with Professor Frankic.
The talks focused on the COAST project, aimed at the protection of ecosystems in local communities the Croatian coastal area and on a project aimed at the protection of the delta of the Neretva river.
Professor Frankic is a consultant in the COAST project, which should be implemented by June 2005. It will cost 10 million dollars, which would be ensured from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which gives grants for ecological projects to developing countries.
Minister Grabar-Kitarovic said she was satisfied with her visit to the United States and talks she had held in Congress and the State Department.
At the talks US officials offered full support to Croatian in a bid to enter the EU and encouraged Croatia to continue cooperating with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, the Croatian minister said on Thursday.
Minister Grabar-Kitarovic will depart from the United States to Canada for a two-day visit.
On 21 November she will meet with the Croatian community in Toronto, and on 22 November she will hold talks with Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Harder.