Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman 2 December 2019 met with UNHCR’s regional representative for Central Europe, Montserrat Feixas Vihe.
Grlić Radman underscored that Croatia, after the adoption of the New York Declaration for Migrants and Refugees, actively supported and implemented the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.
The two officials expressed satisfaction that UNHCR often referred precisely to Croatia’s system of accepting and offering protection for refugees and asylum seekers, launched in 1990s. Currently, there are 250 Syrian refugees housed in Croatia, with the government pledging to accept additional 150 third country refugees and persons with no citizenship.
Grlić Radman stressed that Croatia, as a sovereign country and a member of the EU, has a responsibility to protect both its national and the EU external border as well as the security of Croatia’s citizens, which is also one of the priorities of its upcoming EU presidency – “A Europe that Protects”.
As part of the presentation of Croatia’s EU presidency priorities, Grlić Radman and Vihe discussed the possibility of cooperating with UNHCR representatives in protecting migrants and refugees.