Minister Grabar-Kitarović held several bilateral meetings during Crans Montana Forum

Minister Grabar-Kitarović met with Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Radmila Šekerinska and exchanged opinions about Croatia’s and Macedonia’s progress towards the EU, the EU pre-accession programs – PHARE, ISPA and APARD, Croatia’s negotiations structure for the EU accession negotiations, and the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Macedonia.

Congratulating Croatia on its progress in fulfilling the conditions for a full EU membership, as well as on the dynamic and quality of the negotiations, Deputy Prime Minister Šekerinska proposed the exchange of the experiences in using the pre-accession programs, the development of appropriate strategies, and the preparation of project proposals. Minister Grabar-Kitarović backed that proposal whose aim is to transfer experiences and further strengthen the bilateral co-operation.

During the meeting with Dutch Minister for European Affairs Atzo Nicolai, Minister Grabar-Kitarović expressed Croatia’s determination to meet the criteria for a full EU membership and informed him in short about the progress of the accession negotiations. Minister Nicolai stated that the Dutch Government will remain dedicated to fulfilling all of the assumed obligations and does not support any other form of membership but the full one. He communicated the Dutch Government’s position that one should be determined both in meeting the full membership criteria and in the dedication to meeting the obligations assumed from the EU.

At the margins of the Crans Montana Forum, Minister Grabar-Kitarović met with Jaroslaw Pietras, former State Secretary for European Integration and now the State Secretary at the Polish Ministry of Finance, expressing Croatia’s gratitude for Poland’s support to its process of acceding to the EU and NATO. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the development of the relations between the two friendly countries with no outstanding issues. The Croatian side expressed interest in the exchange of the experiences in the process of harmonising with the NATO standards. State Secretary for European Integration Marija Pejčinović Burić also met with State Secretary Pietras.

Minister Grabar-Kitarović also received the representatives of the Permanent Committee for Foreign and European Affairs of the Maltese House of Representatives and discussed the issues of common interest. Minister Grabar-Kitarović expressed gratitude for Malta’s support to Croatia’s negotiations process with the EU. Both sides confirmed the existence of good and friendly bilateral relations between the two countries and expressed mutual interest in deepening the co-operation, especially in economy and culture.