“There is a growing interest in Croatia’s position and energy policy in the region as Croatia is becoming and already is an important point on Europe’s energy map,” said Foreign Minister Pusić after the talks with Aleksey Meshkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, and Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State.
“This is the result of something that began last year with an active policy in regard to brining the Azerbaijani gas to Europe and the prospect of Croatia’s latching onto that supply, as well as the already international tender for exploiting gas in the Adriatic – the Krk LNG terminal project, which for us is economically extremely important, even more so politically, as it is the foundation for a long-term political independence,” Pusić said.
The officials also discussed EU topics, calming the situation in Ukraine and finding a peaceful and diplomatic solution, which is crucial for Europe and ties in with the energy policy. “We discussed different stages of pressure if an agreement is not reached. However, Europe is pushing towards that and the next week presents an opportunity to reach an agreement on Ukraine. There is no one in the EU that does not consider escalation of the crisis in the county extremely bad, but given the issue of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, that was the only logical consequence. There is goodwill on the EU part, but there are also certain conditions. Regardless of all the discussions in that regard, the EU is unanimous,” Pusić said.
The talks also revolved around the region and its countries progress, which is something Croatia is fully engaged in as it concerns our own security as well, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo’s progress approaching the EU at their own pace, as well as US-Croatia cooperation as strategic partners of sorts in the region.