ZAGREB, Jan 15 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Friday gave a reception for the diplomatic corps accredited in Croatia and representatives of international organisations on the occasion of the Christmas and New Year
holidays. Croatia, as a constructive factor in this part of the world, will persevere in advocating the strengthening of peace and the international order in line with the highest moral principles, President Tudjman said. Before making his address, the President was wished the best for the past holidays by the apostolic nuncio and head of the diplomatic corps, Monsignor Giulio Einaudi. Einaudi congratulated Tudjman on the goals Croatia had achieved through perseverance and courage. He said the past year had not been free of difficulties, but was also marked by major and positive results in both internal and foreign politics. Assessing the past year as "a successfu
ZAGREB, Jan 15 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Friday
gave a reception for the diplomatic corps accredited in Croatia and
representatives of international organisations on the occasion of
the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Croatia, as a constructive factor in this part of the world, will
persevere in advocating the strengthening of peace and the
international order in line with the highest moral principles,
President Tudjman said.
Before making his address, the President was wished the best for the
past holidays by the apostolic nuncio and head of the diplomatic
corps, Monsignor Giulio Einaudi.
Einaudi congratulated Tudjman on the goals Croatia had achieved
through perseverance and courage. He said the past year had not been
free of difficulties, but was also marked by major and positive
results in both internal and foreign politics.
Assessing the past year as "a successful one", President Tudjman
said Croatia had managed to achieve and maintain socio-political
and economic stability, and a fairly high rate of economic growth.
"...the role of small countries and nations like Croatia is
irreplaceable and highly important, not only for the preservation
of national identity but also for the promotion of regional and
wider stability and peace", he said.
Certain relations and certain actions suggest the conclusion that
Croatian historical and current reality is not at all or
insufficiently known, or is even being malevolently distorted, he
noted.
The most obvious proof of this is the extremely unfounded
reiteration of the request that "Croatia must draw closer to
Europe", although "the overall Croatian social and national being
has developed within the framework of West European
civilisation".
"Critiques of Croatian policy with respect to Bosnia and
Herzegovina often proceed from the view that it involves
interference in the internal conditions of another state".
"In so doing, the critics omit the fact that the Croatian people -
from Drava to the Adriatic - has always been united and shared the
same destiny in territorial and spiritual terms", Tudjman pointed
out adding in the times of the latest aggression on Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina "the Croatian people was also united in the
defence of its native soil, in which the sacrifice of the Bosnian-
Herzegovinian Croats was proportionally much greater".
"...Croatia is acquiring an ever increasing number of friends
worldwide, and gaining an ever increasing international
reputation", the most recent proof of this being the 1998 state and
pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II, Tudjman stressed.
In its overall internal and foreign policy Croatia remains true to
its historical being. "We pursue close partnership relations with
the USA, the main global superpower, and inclusion in West European
integration, based on the full equality of all nations", as well as
the solution of economic and social problems in the country,
President Tudjman concluded.
(hina) mm rml.