(Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovač attended in Bonn on Sunday a memorial for the recently deceased Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German foreign minister between 1974 and 1992.
"The world, Europe and Germany lost a great statesman and Croatia a great friend who recognised on time the justification of the Croatian people's fight for freedom, democracy and independence," Kovač told Hina after the memorial.
He recalled that Genscher attended the funeral of Croatia's first president, Franjo Tuđman. "That's why I'm especially honoured to have attended, on behalf of the Republic of Croatia, the memorial for this great friend of ours."
Croatian member of the European Parliament Andrej Plenković also attended the memorial.
Genscher played an important role in the recognition of Croatia in the early 1990s. He died on March 31 aged 88.