BRIJUNI, June 27 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on Friday received about fifty ambassadors accredited to Croatia and their wives, at the White villa on the Brijuni island.
BRIJUNI, June 27 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on
Friday received about fifty ambassadors accredited to Croatia and
their wives, at the White villa on the Brijuni island. #L#
The head of state said that the meeting had become traditional and
that he had invited the ambassadors not to discuss politics or state
affairs but, as he said, to enjoy themselves in a friendly
atmosphere.
"An ambassador's duties are limited. Many will leave Croatia
however I hope that they will cherish fond memories of Croatia,"
Mesic stressed.
Hungarian Ambassador to Croatia Jorgy Csoti spoke on behalf of the
diplomatic corps and thanked Mesic for his invitation to meet on
Brijuni.
"We, ambassadors accredited to Zagreb, have two duties - one is
usual and common to all ambassadors around the world and that is to
maintain bilateral relations and to maintain economic and
political relations. However, ambassadors in Zagreb have a second,
special duty - and that is to invest all their efforts and skills to
support Croatia on its path to European and transatlantic
integration processes," the Hungarian diplomat said.
"We have to do this because thirteen years ago the international
community was a little slow in recognising Croatia's and Slovenia's
independence," the Hungarian Ambassador said and added that
ambassadors in Croatia were doing this because Croatia experienced
a horrific war and Milosevic's aggression. It is for this reason in
fact, Csoti added, that Croatia was not included in the first round
of countries to access the EU and is still not a member of NATO.
(hina) sp ms