President Milanović Bestows Order of Duke Branimir with Ribbon upon Secretary General of the Office of the President Mirjam Katulić
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović has bestowed the Order of Duke Branimir with Ribbon upon Secretary General of the Office of the President Mirjam Katulić for extraordinary services in the promotion of the international position and reputation of the Republic of Croatia and its relations with other countries.
Presenting the decoration to Ms. Katulić, President Milanović said that it was one of those rare moments in which he awarded a decoration to a person he had worked with for years, first in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then in the Office of the President during the past two years. The post of Secretary General of the Office of the President, which Ms. Katulić held for the last twelve years, “is complex, delicate and complicated given all the forces in the relations between this institution and institutions that have executive power and manage money,” said President Milanović. “The less visible it is, the less people talk about it and the more it is done, the better the job is performed and I rate that job with the highest marks,” added President Milanović, concluding that by conferring this decoration the Croatian state and he personally, as the President of the Republic, have expressed their gratitude to Ms. Katulić for everything she has done.
Ms. Mirjam Katulić was appointed Secretary General of the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia in 2010 by the President of the Republic. Prior to assuming the post, she was employed since 1994 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held executive positions in the General Secretariat of the Ministry. In 2003, Ms. Katulić was named Secretary General of the Ministry. In 2001, she was appointed Deputy Head of the Joint Committee for Succession of the Diplomatic-Consular Assets of the Former SFRY by the Croatian Government. She was Head of the same Committee in the period 2005-2010. In 2006, she was appointed Ambassador in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration by the President of the Republic. In 2009, Ms. Katulić was appointed Head of the Directorate at the Ministry, whose task was supporting the process of Croatia’s accession to the European Union. Ms. Katulić participated in the work of many expert committees and commissions in that period.
Expressing her gratitude for the award, Ms. Katulić said that she always tried to work as professionally and diligently as possible. “I thank God that all this time, to this day, I have maintained a sense of enthusiasm for doing something useful. In fact, for jointly doing something good and beneficial for our joint, better tomorrow. I am therefore somewhat taken aback by this decoration, because I think that such conduct should be the everyday conduct of all of us,” Ms. Katulić told those present.
Attending the ceremony in the company of Ms. Katulić were members of her family, her husband Zlatko, daughters Lucija Mihaljević, Dora Marija Pavečić and Sara Katulić Kralj, sons-in-law Jerko Mihaljević, Mihovil Pavečić and Ivan Kralj, and grandchildren Eva Marija and Noa Franjo, as well as many employees of the Office of the President.
President Milanović was joined at the ceremony by the Head of the Office of the President Orsat Miljenić, Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic Bartol Šimunić, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Defense and National Security Dragan Lozančić, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Foreign and European Policy Neven Pelicarić, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Human Rights and Civil Society Melita Mulić, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Education Jadranka Žarković, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for Homeland War Veterans Marijan Mareković, Special Adviser to the President of the Republic for the Economy Velibor Mačkić, Assistant Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic Goran Grobotek and Assistant Adviser to the President of the Republic for the Economy Martina Ciglević.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta