WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Hina) - Relations between Croatia and the United States are very good, and Croatia has become an important partner to the US, the Croatian ambassador to Washington, Ivan Grdesic, said on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Hina) - Relations between Croatia and the
United States are very good, and Croatia has become an important
partner to the US, the Croatian ambassador to Washington, Ivan
Grdesic, said on Tuesday. #L#
Addressing students and lecturers at the College of William and
Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, Grdesic said that the two countries
had "in general very good, very positive" bilateral relations.
"Croatia has become an important partner to the United States," he
added.
The Croatian ambassador was invited to the college, which has been
proclaimed best small college in the US, to deliver a talk on
transition processes in former communist countries of Eastern
Europe, with special emphasis on Croatia.
Speaking of partner relations between Croatia and the US, Grdesic
cited as an example the fight against terrorism, in which the two
countries were cooperating in exchanging information on terrorist
threats and their prevention.
Croatia has also sent its military policemen to Afghanistan, and
the Croatian government has expressed a readiness to send its
troops to Iraq to help stabilise the situation there, the
ambassador said.
He said that the two countries were still discussing ways of
addressing the request by the US for Croatia to sign an agreement on
non-extradition of Americans to the International Criminal Court,
of which Croatia is a founding member.
Grdesic said that economic relations between the two countries
could be better, and that there was unused potential for
improvement. In this context, US business partners need
information on where they can do business in Croatia, while
Croatia, being a small country, needs US support in presenting its
products on the US market, he added.
Asked what Croatia was doing to arrest and hand over General Ante
Gotovina to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Grdesic said
that the Croatian government was not sure whether the fugitive
general was in the country or not, and that it had information that
the retired general, as a former member of the French Foreign
Legion, had citizenship of several European countries.
Grdesic stressed that Croatia was aware that this and other issues
relating to cooperation with the Hague tribunal had to be resolved
if it wanted to become a member of the European Union.
Speaking of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, the
ambassador said that there was no political force in Croatia that
would want to or be able to change the government undemocratically,
which he said testified to the level of democracy achieved in the
country.
Grdesic stressed that regardless of who won the November elections,
Croatia would remain on its path to the European Union and NATO.
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