Lecture of H. E.
Gordan Jandroković, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and European Integration of the Republic of Croatia
at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
Seoul, 6th September 2010
Croatia and its Place in the
World of Today
Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear students,
It is a great
pleasure that during my first visit to the Republic of Korea I have the
opportunity to speak at one of your most prestigious higher education
institutes.
Since the excellence of this university rests precisely
on those studies whose focus lies on fostering understanding and ties
between your country and the world, I cannot think of a better place to
come together with young people.
As many of past and current Korean
diplomats and ambassadors have graduated from this university, I can
claim with certainty that I am addressing even some of my future
colleagues.
For all these reasons I am looking forward to the discussion after my
presentation.
And
considering the vast number of languages taught at this university, it
will not come as a surprise to hear a question put forward in Croatian.
Bearing
in mind the nature of your studies, I can assume that you share my view
that each nation, each culture and each people have their specificities
that they need to be proud of, that they need to cherish and treasure.
It
is the awareness of our own heritage and at the same time the openness
to other nations, cultures and peoples that have been enriching our
world and our lives.
Most of those things we share are that much
embedded into our everyday life that we do not even stop to wonder
where they come from.
But they certainly do make the geographical distance between Croatia
and Korea much smaller.
There
are many examples of the interconnectedness of the world of today.
However, the roots of globalization go a long way back into the history.
Just
by looking around this room, I can immediately point to several
elements which bring a part of the Croatian heritage into your everyday
life.
But unlike my Samsung phone, these do not have a declaration of the
country of origin on its back side.
Which is why I would like to point to what was made in Croatia.
Croatia is brought closer to you:
Every
time you turn on the light, because it was the Croatian-born inventor
Nikola Tesla who contributed to the birth of commercial electricity.
Every
time you write, because it was another famous Croatian inventor,
Slavoljub Penkala, who developed the first solid-ink fountain pen.
Every
time you prepare for a formal occasion, because as the homeland of the
first tie, it is Croatia you wear close to your heart.
Now that you
may have become more aware of the Croatian heritage that you come
across in your everyday life, let me draw a picture of the country
itself and its place in the world of today.
If we were to put
Croatia into a geopolitical perspective, it would be necessary to
recall its thirteen century long historical role at the crossroads
between east and west, north and south.
With its first recognition
in the ninth century, Croatia becomes one of the oldest European
sovereign states, whose identity is ever since deeply rooted in the
Mediterranean and Central European tradition.
Building on this
legacy, twenty years ago Croatia re-emerged as an independent state on
the map of Europe and has indeed come a long way since.
The past twenty years have been marked by three transition processes.
From a country within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Croatia has become a free, independent, sovereign state.
It has released itself from the communist legacy by establishing a
pluralistic democracy and a free market economy.
Unlike the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Croatia was
simultaneously faced with a war inflicted on its own territory.
This inevitably led to the third and the most demanding transition -
building peace and prosperity.
Croatia’s
ability to overcome all these difficulties strengthened the foundations
of our democracy, as well as our European aspirations and
Trans-Atlantic commitment.
Membership of the European Union and NATO became our strategic foreign
policy goal.
And
not only because Croatia has always belonged to this family of nations
in cultural, historical and geographical terms, but also because of
what this family stands for.
The EU and NATO are two of the
strongest pillars which directed the course of history of the second
half of the 20th century on the European continent.
The ideas
that these pillars were built on were powerful enough to transform a
continent torn apart by centuries of conflicts into an area that has
ever since been enjoying peace, stability and prosperity.
NATO and
EU enlargement further spread this area by overcoming the artificial
divide of Western and Eastern Europe originating from the Cold War.
It
is the synergy of Euroatlantic integration processes that encouraged
major changes in the countries which have joined them in the last
decade.
Therefore, it is only natural that our own efforts in
achieving a better future are to a great extent linked to the European
and Euro-Atlantic framework.
Croatia’s accession to NATO last year is a clear proof that this better
future is becoming a reality.
It is a proof that Croatia has undergone an incredible transformation
in the last two decades.
This proof is owed to the values of democracy, political pluralism and
market economy embedded into our society.
And when we join the EU, we will fully grasp the future we have
envisaged for ourselves.
This
future is within reach, because we are, as I like to put it, running
the final lap in our EU accession negotiations, determined to achieve
the goal of EU membership in 2012.
Owing to its strength, experience
and dedication, Croatia became what it is today – a strong and reliable
NATO ally and an EU member to be.
At the same time, we are actively engaged in shaping the future of our
immediate neighbourhood, South East Europe.
We
are contributing to building a stable, peaceful and prosperous
neighborhood, and we wish to see all the countries of our region as
partners in the European and Euro-Atlantic community of nations.
This
orientation rests on the belief that the NATO and EU perspective can do
for South East Europe what it did for Central and Eastern Europe some
time ago.
At the same time, it is safe to say that the long-term
stability of Europe is only possible were South-East Europe to be
included in the European and Euro-Atlantic mainstream.
Due to our
experience gained in integration processes and our insights into the
specificities of the region, the Croatia of today acts as a bridge to
Southeast Europe representing a unique added value to both the EU and
NATO.
In addition to its regional engagement, Croatia is assuming an
increasingly active role on the broader international scene.
Along
with our term in the UN Security Council which has recently expired,
the most significant part of Croatia’s international activities has
been and continues to be our contribution to 14 peace-keeping missions
of the EU, NATO and the UN.
Croatia’s largest contingent is
currently deployed in Afghanistan as this mission lies at the core of
our international engagement.
We are strongly committed to strengthening security, training Afghan
forces and rebuilding the country.
At
the same time our soldiers, police officers and civil staff are present
on four continents from Haiti through Western Sahara to the Golan
Heights.
For we know that through our involvement in international
operations – both in our immediate neighborhood and in regions far away
from Europe – we prevent the security threats from entering our own
continent and our own country.
The fact that in a short period of
time Croatia has evolved from a country that was a receiver of
international peace-keeping missions to a successful provider of peace
support operations makes our contribution to international security
even more significant.
Lessons learned from the period when Croatia
itself was host to such operations, positive as well as negative, are
today built into training programs for Croatian troops.
Their
sensitivity to the local population, to their religion, customs and
laws, is crucial to garnering respect in any mission, and it has most
certainly contributed to a very positive image of Croatian troops
abroad.
Dear students,
Ladies and gentlemen,
You will agree that we all live in very interesting and very
challenging times.
The
progress we have witnessed over the past years is being challenged from
several directions: the financial crisis, the threat of a widening
recession, the continuing volatility in energy prices and climate
change.
All this creates a situation where traditional and non
traditional security issues become interconnected. Old problems are
evolving under changed circumstances.
Countries and regions are
being drawn closer together, key trends are interacting as never
before, and the pace of change is accelerating.
Mastering the
challenges of the globalized world will require governments everywhere
to see, think, and act globally -- in ways never demanded of them
before.
The famous Croatian-born inventor Nikola Tesla, whose work
represents an immense contribution to world progress, once said: “The
world will never be perfect but it must constantly evolve!”
Fresh ideas, new approaches and a renewed commitment to common work for
better future - that is what we need now.
Indeed,
we all have responsibilities for the world we live in and should share
it with other countries and nations according to our own abilities and
possibilities.
In the multipolar world of today comprehensive, multilateral approaches
have become inevitable.
And that is why we need to build new partnerships with all the relevant
actors on the world stage.
It is our understanding of this new emerging reality that has already
started giving a new shape to our foreign policy.
The fact that this is my second trip to Asia during this year only
proves this point.
I am hopeful that this visit to Seoul will bring a new wind into the
sails of Croatia’s relations with the Republic of Korea.
We
are highly interested in deepening the relations of our two countries
not only by broadening our cooperation in political but also in
economic terms.
In this regard we see many possibilities which remain to be explored.
Looking
beyond our borders for new partners and exploring the manifold economic
opportunities is becoming one of the key aspects of Croatia’s
international bilateral engagement.
In doing so we are opening our
door for prospective foreign investors to realize the competitive
advantages and specific characteristics of the Croatian economy.
As
a gateway to the markets of South East Europe as well as Central and
Eastern Europe, Korea can see an interesting business partner in
Croatia.
And the same can be said vice versa.
Korea represents a country that has undergone tremendous changes and
progress over the past 50 years.
According
to the recently published Newsweek’s research, the Republic of Korea
occupies the 2nd place in the world when it comes to its education
system and 3rd when it comes to economic dynamism.
And this is certainly not a coincidence.
Because
a good broad based educational system is crucial and very closely
linked to future economic prosperity of any country.
The
fact that the Republic of Korea will host the next G20 meeting in
November this year is another proof of Korea’s significant role in the
modern world.
Besides its political and economic performance in
global terms, Korea will most certainly have a great opportunity at the
upcoming World Exhibition in 2012 to make its culture and tradition
more recognizable as well.
This brings me to another aspect where I see great potential for
further cooperation, namely tourism.
Last year Croatia was visited by around 10.000 of your compatriots.
But it is my firm belief that these figures, both on the Korean and
Croatian side, can certainly be far exceeded.
And the recent figures of a 75% increase of Korean tourists visiting
Croatia show that we are moving in the right direction.
As I pointed out at the beginning of my lecture, there is most
definitely much to be discovered about both of our countries.
It
is only through better understanding and greater knowledge of each
other, by engaging with people and not just governments, that our
relations can reach new heights.
Therefore we will continue to support people-to-people contacts through
culture, tourism and, of course, education.
We
believe that, with its Croatian component, the Department of South
Slavic studies at the Hankuk University is giving its contribution to
this end.
Nevertheless, we should seek for ways to make both Croatia and Korea
more receptive to student exchange.
And
I believe the agreement between the University of Zagreb and the Hankuk
University of Foreign Studies is a good starting point.
Let us use it well!
Dear students,
At this point I would not like to go into further details.
Now it is my turn to listen to your thoughts and questions, and I am
very much looking forward to our discussion.
Thank you!
