Minister Grabar-Kitarović met with President of the New South Wales’ Parliament John Aquilina and Macquarie University Vice-President Dianne Yerbury

Minister Grabar-Kitarović and Parliament’s President Aquilina agreed, among other things, that the large Croatian community in Australia is the key factor in the good bilateral relations between the two countries, but that there is still room for improvement, especially in the field of economy.

After meeting with Vice-President Yerbury, Minister Grabar-Kitarović held a lecture entitled Croatia and the European Union at the Macquarie University¹. Speaking about Croatia’s acceding to the EU, she informed the present parties about Croatia’s status as a full EU membership candidate and the course of the negotiations launched 3 October 2005.

Answering the questions, Minister Grabar-Kitarović reviewed the advantages and challenges that await Croatia in joining the EU, stating that peace, stability and security are some of the basic values that we want to last forever in Croatia.

During her stay in Sydney, Minister Grabar-Kitarović held a lecture at the Croatian Club Punchbowl on the subject Homeland and Croatian Expatriates.

According to the latest survey, there are 105,747 Croatians in Australia, mostly situated in urban areas – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane and Hobart. There are dozens of Croatian clubs and societies in Australia, and a dozen or so Catholic centres. The most popular clubs with the most members are in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra. Croatian expatriates in Australia are one of the largest and socially most well organised Croatian communities in the world.

Ivana Crnić
Spokesperson

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¹ The Macquarie University opened in 1983 the world’s first Croatian language department, today’s Croatian Studies Center. The Australian Croatians organised as early as 70’s the Croatian language teaching in the Croatian Catholic schools and the so-called Saturday Schools. Australia is the first country in the world to recognise Croatian as a separate language.