Minister Pusić in New York

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic 22-26 September will attend along with President Ivo Josipovic the opening of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Apart from attending a ministerial high-level panel on Equal Futures Partnership – Women Empowerment 22 September, Pusic is also to hold bilateral talks with foreign ministers of Turkmenistan and Mali. Upon arriving in New York, Pusic said the talks, apart from issues concerning the UN, would revolve around country-specific topics. “First up is a bilateral meeting with the Turkmen FM, given that a ship is scheduled to be delivered to Turkmenistan by the end of next month,” said Pusic. She will also hold bilateral talks with Malian FM, and meet with officials from several other African countries interested in the functioning of the Centre of Excellence, given that it, among other things, deals with post-conflict countries. “The development aid from the EU and Croatia is very important to those countries, while on the other hand for us they represent an opportunity for new markets and the expansion of economic cooperation,” Pusic said. The Croatian FM will also attend numerous panel discussions, round tables and special events, and on Friday September 26th she will chair a high-level ministerial on an integrated approach to gender equality as part of sustainable development in post-conflict reconstruction. The meeting was organized by Croatia with the intent of seeing what and how works when in post-war circumstances women launch an initiative or start their own business with or without the state’s support. Announcing a meeting of the region’s foreign ministers, to be attended by Commissioner Füle and the Italian FM as well, Pusic said that the opening of the UN General Assembly should be used as an opportunity to hold talks with officials from the countries we otherwise rarely have a chance to meet, and that the regional meeting, given that the region should stay on the agenda of both the EU and the UN, would be used for another round of talks on the future of the region.

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