Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Wednesday attended a meeting on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.
Addressing the event, the minister highlighted the difficult position of national minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine. He underscored the importance of promoting national minority rights in the international institutions’ response to the Russian aggression, as well as the importance of ensuring access to humanitarian aid and non-discrimination regardless of a person’s ethnic, religions, linguistic or other identity.
“The promotion and protection of the rights of national minorities is one of Croatia’s permanent priorities, which we continue to implement fully,” Grlić Radman said.
On the same day, the minister took part in a meeting of the US-Adriatic Charter (A-5), which he described as the most important initiative for bringing the Western Balkan countries closer to NATO standards. He stressed the importance of NATO’s open-door policy and of aiding all partner countries in their preparations for the membership. “For Croatia, the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of Southeast European countries is a foundation of the stability in the region, and we will continue to push for the Western Balkans remaining high on NATO’s priority list,” he said.
“The US-Adriatic Charter, as an extension of NATO in Southeast Europe, has to continue to promote democratic values and standards,” underlined Grlić Radman, calling for all member countries to unequivocally respect the common Euro-Atlantic values and cooperate with NATO.
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