PRIME MINISTER:
Madame President, welcome to Australia. You’re the first Croatian President to visit Australia since 1995.
We’ve already had a very good discussion this morning, we’ve got a lot more to talk about but of course you come as President of Croatia to a nation that has a very large Croatian community, I know, that has received you rapturously. We can understand why.
You’ve had a very enthusiastic reception here and a very warm welcome.
You’ve been a great supporter of Australia as we have of Croatia in terms of our multilateral nominations for the Human Rights Council and I thank you for your support on the European Free Trade Agreement.
We look forward to further discussions about how we can advance our shared values in the world and of course promote further investment between Croatia and Australia.
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA:
Thank you very much Mr Prime Minister. It’s a true pleasure to be here, and I’d like to thank you on behalf of my delegation and myself for the very warm reception this morning.
And I’d like to thank the Australian people and especially the Croatian community for the warm welcome that we have received throughout the few days that we have been here already.
Yes the Croatian community is a huge reason, a great reason for the visit to Australia as well and we’re very proud of them because they are proud Australians, but also they cherish and nourish their Croatian heritage and they keep close connections with Croatia.
I’m very pleased that this morning we could already discuss our bilateral relationship and our desire to have closer cooperation and closer discussions.
Croatia will continue to support Australia in the European Union and argue for closer links between the European Union and Australia. So those in the European Union and in NATO you have a strong friend and ally.
We are very much interested in expanding our bilateral relationship in many areas from science and technology to most notably economic exchanges, trade and investment.
I hope that with today’s discussions we will also take a new step forward towards potential new investment of Australia in Croatia, and Croatia in Australia in of course trade exchange.
I am pleased that there are four chambers of commerce, Croatian-Australian Chambers of Commerce here and on Sunday we signed a Memorandum of Understanding between our Chamber of the Economy and the four chambers and I believe that that also will contribute to our bilateral relationship.
So thank you very much once again for the warm reception and I’m very much looking forward to working closely with you, Mr Prime Minister, Madame Minister and with all of you and I am very much looking forward to our growing friendship between Croatia and Australia.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ENDS]