CROATIA TAKES PART IN OAS CONFERENCE

WASHINGTON/SANTIAGO, June 10 - Croatia took part in the annual session of the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly, which was held in Chile's capital Santiago June 8-10.

The OAS today is the linchpin of a hemispheric system that is more united than ever before in defense of democracy and human rights. Through the Summit of the Americas process, the 34 democratic nations of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean are working to carry out common priorities and goals, from strengthening hemispheric security to combating corruption. Therefore, the key issue that the hemisphere’s foreign ministers have debated at the OAS General Assembly in Chile was ”Democratic Governance in the Americas”.

Croatia, one among 36 countries with a permanent observer status in the OAS, was represented by the Ambassador to the U.S., Ivan Grdesic. Croatia's presence at the conference is part of the country's efforts to participate also in foreign policy processes outside of Europe and its own region.

OAS Ministers of Foreign Affairs focused on strengthening democracies in Latin America that face globalization pressure on one and expectations of their citizens to achieve high democratic and economic standards quickly, on the other hand, said Ambassador Grdesic.

Democratic institutions capacity is unfortunately insufficient to meet those challenges, although all OAS members, 34 countries, are democracies, except Cuba, that has been suspended from OAS since 1962, commented Grdesic. Majority of Latin American countries face problems in development of legitimate democratic institutions as political parties and parliaments enjoy trust of only 22 or 28 percent of citizens respectfully, according to a research presented at the conference.

Looking into those problems and processes is valuable for Croatia, that is experiencing its own transition and facing some of the problems, such as credible political parties, economical development, human rights and national minority issues, said Grdesic.

During the annual session, Grdešić met OAS Secretary General Cesar Gaviria who thanked Croatia on its interest in OAS.

As its contribution to the session, Croatia has submitted its National Program to Fight Drug Abuse.

Croatia was presented by Katarina Tamhina, Head of Latin American Department at Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by Croatian Ambassador to Chile, Ive Livjanic.

Picture: Ambassador Grdesic, Katarina Tamhina, Head of Latin American Department at Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chilean Ambassador to OAS, Esteban Tomic.