Croatia and its Place in the World of Today at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Lecture of H. E. Gordan Jandroković, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and European Integration of the Republic of Croatia
at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Seoul, 6th September 2010

Croatia and its Place in the World of Today

Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear students,

It is a great pleasure that during my first visit to the Republic of Korea I have the opportunity to speak at one of your most prestigious higher education institutes.
Since the excellence of this university rests precisely on those studies whose focus lies on fostering understanding and ties between your country and the world, I cannot think of a better place to come together with young people.
As many of past and current Korean diplomats and ambassadors have graduated from this university, I can claim with certainty that I am addressing even some of my future colleagues.
For all these reasons I am looking forward to the discussion after my presentation.
And considering the vast number of languages taught at this university, it will not come as a surprise to hear a question put forward in Croatian.
Bearing in mind the nature of your studies, I can assume that you share my view that each nation, each culture and each people have their specificities that they need to be proud of, that they need to cherish and treasure.
It is the awareness of our own heritage and at the same time the openness to other nations, cultures and peoples that have been enriching our world and our lives.
Most of those things we share are that much embedded into our everyday life that we do not even stop to wonder where they come from.
But they certainly do make the geographical distance between Croatia and Korea much smaller.
There are many examples of the interconnectedness of the world of today. However, the roots of globalization go a long way back into the history.
Just by looking around this room, I can immediately point to several elements which bring a part of the Croatian heritage into your everyday life.
But unlike my Samsung phone, these do not have a declaration of the country of origin on its back side.
Which is why I would like to point to what was made in Croatia.

Croatia is brought closer to you:
Every time you turn on the light, because it was the Croatian-born inventor Nikola Tesla who contributed to the birth of commercial electricity.
Every time you write, because it was another famous Croatian inventor, Slavoljub Penkala, who developed the first solid-ink fountain pen.
Every time you prepare for a formal occasion, because as the homeland of the first tie, it is Croatia you wear close to your heart.
Now that you may have become more aware of the Croatian heritage that you come across in your everyday life, let me draw a picture of the country itself and its place in the world of today.
If we were to put Croatia into a geopolitical perspective, it would be necessary to recall its thirteen century long historical role at the crossroads between east and west, north and south.
With its first recognition in the ninth century, Croatia becomes one of the oldest European sovereign states, whose identity is ever since deeply rooted in the Mediterranean and Central European tradition.
Building on this legacy, twenty years ago Croatia re-emerged as an independent state on the map of Europe and has indeed come a long way since.
The past twenty years have been marked by three transition processes.
From a country within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Croatia has become a free, independent, sovereign state.
It has released itself from the communist legacy by establishing a pluralistic democracy and a free market economy.
Unlike the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Croatia was simultaneously faced with a war inflicted on its own territory.
This inevitably led to the third and the most demanding transition - building peace and prosperity.
Croatia’s ability to overcome all these difficulties strengthened the foundations of our democracy, as well as our European aspirations and Trans-Atlantic commitment.
Membership of the European Union and NATO became our strategic foreign policy goal.
And not only because Croatia has always belonged to this family of nations in cultural, historical and geographical terms, but also because of what this family stands for. 
The EU and NATO are two of the strongest pillars which directed the course of history of the second half of the 20th century on the European continent.

The ideas that these pillars were built on were powerful enough to transform a continent torn apart by centuries of conflicts into an area that has ever since been enjoying peace, stability and prosperity.
NATO and EU enlargement further spread this area by overcoming the artificial divide of Western and Eastern Europe originating from the Cold War.
It is the synergy of Euroatlantic integration processes that encouraged major changes in the countries which have joined them in the last decade.
Therefore, it is only natural that our own efforts in achieving a better future are to a great extent linked to the European and Euro-Atlantic framework.
Croatia’s accession to NATO last year is a clear proof that this better future is becoming a reality.
It is a proof that Croatia has undergone an incredible transformation in the last two decades.
This proof is owed to the values of democracy, political pluralism and market economy embedded into our society.
And when we join the EU, we will fully grasp the future we have envisaged for ourselves.
This future is within reach, because we are, as I like to put it, running the final lap in our EU accession negotiations, determined to achieve the goal of EU membership in 2012.
Owing to its strength, experience and dedication, Croatia became what it is today – a strong and reliable NATO ally and an EU member to be.
At the same time, we are actively engaged in shaping the future of our immediate neighbourhood, South East Europe.
We are contributing to building a stable, peaceful and prosperous neighborhood, and we wish to see all the countries of our region as partners in the European and Euro-Atlantic community of nations.
This orientation rests on the belief that the NATO and EU perspective can do for South East Europe what it did for Central and Eastern Europe some time ago.
At the same time, it is safe to say that the long-term stability of Europe is only possible were South-East Europe to be included in the European and Euro-Atlantic mainstream.
Due to our experience gained in integration processes and our insights into the specificities of the region, the Croatia of today acts as a bridge to Southeast Europe representing a unique added value to both the EU and NATO.
In addition to its regional engagement, Croatia is assuming an increasingly active role on the broader international scene.
Along with our term in the UN Security Council which has recently expired, the most significant part of Croatia’s international activities has been and continues to be our contribution to 14 peace-keeping missions of the EU, NATO and the UN.
Croatia’s largest contingent is currently deployed in Afghanistan as this mission lies at the core of our international engagement.
We are strongly committed to strengthening security, training Afghan forces and rebuilding the country.
At the same time our soldiers, police officers and civil staff are present on four continents from Haiti through Western Sahara to the Golan Heights.
For we know that through our involvement in international operations – both in our immediate neighborhood and in regions far away from Europe – we prevent the security threats from entering our own continent and our own country.
The fact that in a short period of time Croatia has evolved from a country that was a receiver of international peace-keeping missions to a successful provider of peace support operations makes our contribution to international security even more significant.
Lessons learned from the period when Croatia itself was host to such operations, positive as well as negative, are today built into training programs for Croatian troops.
Their sensitivity to the local population, to their religion, customs and laws, is crucial to garnering respect in any mission, and it has most certainly contributed to a very positive image of Croatian troops abroad.
Dear students,
Ladies and gentlemen,
You will agree that we all live in very interesting and very challenging times. 
The progress we have witnessed over the past years is being challenged from several directions: the financial crisis, the threat of a widening recession, the continuing volatility in energy prices and climate change.
All this creates a situation where traditional and non traditional security issues become interconnected. Old problems are evolving under changed circumstances.
Countries and regions are being drawn closer together, key trends are interacting as never before, and the pace of change is accelerating.
Mastering the challenges of the globalized world will require governments everywhere to see, think, and act globally -- in ways never demanded of them before.
The famous Croatian-born inventor Nikola Tesla, whose work represents an immense contribution to world progress, once said: “The world will never be perfect but it must constantly evolve!”
Fresh ideas, new approaches and a renewed commitment to common work for better future - that is what we need now.
Indeed, we all have responsibilities for the world we live in and should share it with other countries and nations according to our own abilities and possibilities.
In the multipolar world of today comprehensive, multilateral approaches have become inevitable.
And that is why we need to build new partnerships with all the relevant actors on the world stage.
It is our understanding of this new emerging reality that has already started giving a new shape to our foreign policy.
The fact that this is my second trip to Asia during this year only proves this point.
I am hopeful that this visit to Seoul will bring a new wind into the sails of Croatia’s relations with the Republic of Korea.
We are highly interested in deepening the relations of our two countries not only by broadening our cooperation in political but also in economic terms.
In this regard we see many possibilities which remain to be explored.
Looking beyond our borders for new partners and exploring the manifold economic opportunities is becoming one of the key aspects of Croatia’s international bilateral engagement.
In doing so we are opening our door for prospective foreign investors to realize the competitive advantages and specific characteristics of the Croatian economy.
As a gateway to the markets of South East Europe as well as Central and Eastern Europe, Korea can see an interesting business partner in Croatia.
And the same can be said vice versa.
Korea represents a country that has undergone tremendous changes and progress over the past 50 years.
According to the recently published Newsweek’s research, the Republic of Korea occupies the 2nd place in the world when it comes to its education system and 3rd when it comes to economic dynamism.
And this is certainly not a coincidence.
Because a good broad based educational system is crucial and very closely linked to future economic prosperity of any country. 
The fact that the Republic of Korea will host the next G20 meeting in November this year is another proof of Korea’s significant role in the modern world.
Besides its political and economic performance in global terms, Korea will most certainly have a great opportunity at the upcoming World Exhibition in 2012 to make its culture and tradition more recognizable as well.
This brings me to another aspect where I see great potential for further cooperation, namely tourism.
Last year Croatia was visited by around 10.000 of your compatriots.
But it is my firm belief that these figures, both on the Korean and Croatian side, can certainly be far exceeded.
And the recent figures of a 75% increase of Korean tourists visiting Croatia show that we are moving in the right direction.
As I pointed out at the beginning of my lecture, there is most definitely much to be discovered about both of our countries.
It is only through better understanding and greater knowledge of each other, by engaging with people and not just governments, that our relations can reach new heights.
Therefore we will continue to support people-to-people contacts through culture, tourism and, of course, education. 
We believe that, with its Croatian component, the Department of South Slavic studies at the Hankuk University is giving its contribution to this end.
Nevertheless, we should seek for ways to make both Croatia and Korea more receptive to student exchange.
And I believe the agreement between the University of Zagreb and the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies is a good starting point.
Let us use it well!
Dear students,
At this point I would not like to go into further details.
Now it is my turn to listen to your thoughts and questions, and I am very much looking forward to our discussion.
Thank you!