Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman on Friday started his visit to Australia by meeting with the Croatian community at the Croatian Community Centre in Perth. The event was organised by the Western Australian Croatian Chamber of Commerce, whose president is Luka Jurčević, and the Western Australian Croatian Community Centre, whose president is Anthony Sumich. Also present were local government representatives from Western Australia, including Minister for Water and Youth Simone McGurk and Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett.
Grlić Radman congratulated the Western Australian Croatian Chamber of Commerce, which for 20 years has been actively contributing to the development of cooperation in trade investment and economic cooperation between Western Australia and the Croatian economy and industry. He also underscored the importance of the Western Australian Croatian Community Centre, which has been nurturing Croatian culture since 1977 and organizing various events and Croatian language courses.
The minister said that it was impressive that the Croatian language was still being actively learned on the other side of the world, which gives one a feeling of great pride. Young Croats in Perth continue to learn their mother tongue thanks to the St. Anne’s Croatian Catholic Centre, under the leadership of Father Nikola Čabraja. The Centre celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and the Croatian Ethnic School operates as part of it. In addition, the minister thanked the members of the Croatian community for promoting Croatian culture through the Croatian folklore group Zagreb and the Croatian folklore ensemble Lado.
In his address, Grlić Radman underlined that Croatia today is a member of the EU and NATO and is stable in business, economic and political terms, which opens many doors for new investment and entrepreneurship, already recognised by many businesspeople from around the world, including Australia.
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