Croatian President meets with Minnesota Governor and US defence officials.

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of bilateral defence cooperation between Croatia and the United States of America through the programme of cooperative partnership with Minnesota (State Partnership Program), President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović met on Saturday with Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and representatives of the Minnesota National Guard.

During the meeting, the President said that two decades of excellent and fruitful bilateral defence cooperation between Croatia and the United States demonstrate friendship, not only between armed forces, but also between the two countries. She added that Croatia, in the early days of its struggle for independence and freedom, recognized the United States of America as a country which it could rely on. “Bilateral cooperation between the USA and Croatia, established in 1995, has been principally based on defence and military cooperation”, said the President. She added that co-operation after the end of the Homeland War could be seen in the American contribution to the Croatian accession to NATO and the European Union and through the ongoing support to the strengthening of international prestige of Croatia.

The President stressed the importance of the Joint Cooperation Programme, which was established in 1996 by the US European Command, and which enabled Croatia to take part in the programme of intergovernmental cooperative partnership aimed at restructuring the armed forces and the transformation of the defence system for the purposes of membership first in the Partnership for Peace programme, and then in the full membership in NATO.

Among the newly-established programmes of military cooperation, the central place belongs to cooperative partnership with the Minnesota National Guard, which was launched in June 1996, said President Grabar-Kitarović. “We are proud that today we can say that in the past 20 years within the framework of joint activities with the Minnesota National Guard we have conducted more than 200 bilateral military and civilian professional activities and humanitarian projects, which included more than 3,500 members of the Armed Forces and employees of the Ministry of Defence”, said the President.

For outstanding contribution to the international reputation and position of Croatia and the development of relations between Croatia and the United States, the President awarded Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton with the Grand Order of King Petar Krešimir IV with Sash and Morning Star. Also, awards were presented to Colonel Douglas Faherty and Colonel Ryan Fayrweather.

“With this awards, we demonstrate how highly we value our friendship and overall support that the United States have provided to Croatia. We also point out that we are optimistic with regards to the future cooperation and strengthening of the overall relations between our two friendly countries”, concluded President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović.