President Milanović at Meeting with Croats in Switzerland: Our generation’s task is to finally make Croatia a high-income country
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović began today his official two-day visit to the Swiss Confederation in Geneva with a meeting with members of the Croatian community who live and work in the Swiss Confederation, telling them to develop and preserve their Croatian identity and Croatian language.
Recalling his previous visits to Geneva, President Milanović said that Croatia’s destiny, as well as the end of the war and avoiding it, were being negotiated at the time. “In the end, there was war. And now we have another war in which one large country attacked another relatively large country, but a weaker one. It is a human duty to always be on the side of the weaker, but we must take into account that we are a small nation, that there are fewer than four million of us, that the world is cruel and often incomprehensible, so we must look after our own interests,” President Milanović told the Croatian community.
Speaking about Croatia’s national interests, President Milanović underscored that its main national interest is “to finally become a high-income country,” explaining that there is no true independence without financial independence. “Croatia is fighting this battle as a society, as a nation that was created and formed long before our Homeland War. We have been fighting and waging this battle for decades, but we are advancing slowly. I see this as the most important task of my generation, which is already on its way out, and of the next generation,” said the President of the Republic.
“Preserve your identity for it is not something that can be bought. Learn and preserve the Croatian language, develop your Croatian identity. You will know and feel for yourself how to do it, but identity is developed, it is not preserved because someone threatens it. It is up to us, it is our business and we can and must develop and supplement it and constantly exchange ideas in order for a better society to be built – a society that is a liberal democracy. Not a society like Switzerland, because that is a unique country and not for comparison, but a society where ideas are free and people are responsible,” said President Milanović.
“Geneva, western Europe, western civilization – that is our world! We respect what belongs to others, but we know what is ours and it is what we preserve and develop,” President Milanović told members of the Croatian community in Switzerland.
The meeting with President Milanović was attended by representatives of leading Croatian associations and culture and arts societies in the Swiss Confederation, including the Živa Grana Croatian Culture & Arts Society from Geneva, Croatian World Congress, associations of parents of Croatian classes, the Croatian Cultural Club and Croatian-Swiss Young Professionals Association (CSYPA). Apart from Croats who work in international organizations in Switzerland, the meeting with the Croatian President was attended by Croatian businesspeople, scientists and students from Swiss universities. Pupils enrolled in Croatian classes in Switzerland also participated in the programme held on the occasion of the President’s visit.
The President’s wife Sanja Musić Milanović attended the meeting between the President of the Republic and the Croatian community. Also present were members of the President’s official delegation, the Head of the Office of the President of the Republic Orsat Miljenić, Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic Bartol Šimunić, Adviser to the President for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicarić, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in the Swiss Confederation Andrea Bekić, and Ambassador and Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Croatia to the United Nations Office and Other International Organisations in Geneva Vesna Bastić Kos.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta