At the Government’s 5th session of 20 August 2020, Minister Gordan Grlić Radman reported on the measures and steps the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs had taken in presenting Croatia as an epidemiologically safe tourist destination.
For the purposes of a timely exchange of data, an interdepartmental working group has been set up tasked with presenting Croatia as an epidemiologically safe tourist destination. The group is coordinated by the MFEA and includes representatives of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of the Interior, National Civil Protection Headquarters and the Croatian Tourist Board.
Grlić Radman said that the MFEA had held a video briefing on 7 August for the representatives of the diplomatic corps of the EU and EEA member states, presenting the measures we had taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus. He underlined that the latest data on the epidemiological situation in Croatia was being regularly distributed.
“I would like to stress that we have been acting preventively the whole time via relevant foreign print and electronic media. As soon as there were indications in the media or through our diplomatic and consular network that measures for Croatia could change, we got in contact with our counterparts and/or state secretaries,” Grlić Radman underscored.
The minister said he had spoken with the ministers of Italy, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland, Germany and Hungary, while the state secretary had spoken with her counterparts from the Netherlands, UK and Germany. In addition, letters were sent outlining detailed measures Croatia was taking to stabilize the pandemic so that our citizens and guests could feel safe.
Moreover, Grlić Radman underlined that through diplomatic contacts we had been emphasizing the fact that the coronavirus cases were unevenly distributed across Croatia, pushing for new measures that took into account the regional distribution of the pandemic in order to avoid introducing measures for Croatia as a whole.
“We advocate transparency as well as close cooperation and exchange of information among the member states when introducing more stringent measures for the return of citizens and tourists from one member state to the other,” the minister concluded.