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QNA
Doha
PRESIDENT of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic praised the pivotal and strong mediation role of the State of Qatar to resolve regional and international disputes.
In an interview with an Arabic daily, the Croatian President said that the relations between Qatar and her country are growing and expanding at all levels.
She stressed that Qatar is a key focus for Croatia in the Gulf region, expressing keenness on expanding cooperation between the two countries in various political, economic and security fields, as well as coordination on regional and international issues.
She added that her country attaches great importance to expanding economic relations with Qatar, looking forward to more commercial and investment agreements between the two countries in the near future.
The Croatian President expressed her pleasure at the progress and renaissance of the State of Qatar and congratulated the Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and the Qatari government and people for the safe release of the Qatari citizens kidnapped in Iraq.
President Kitrovic pointed out that Croatia has many opportunities for Qatari investors and businessmen, noting that her visit to the State witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two countries' chambers and another MoU on environmental protection as well as the signing of an agreement between private companies, in addition to 15 other previous agreements.
Moreover, she expressed hope that HH the Emir will visit Croatia as soon as possible to strengthen the two countries' relations in the coming stages for the interests of the two peoples and countries.
Regarding cooperation in the field of energy, especially the natural gas from Qatar, she said that this sector is very important and has many aspects, noting that she had talked about the possibility of opening stations to receive the Qatari natural gas emphasising her support for this initiative. She stressed the importance of building a natural gas station on Krkisland in Croatia that could be connected to other stations in Poland, Lithuania, Croatia, Hungary and the region, and all these stations can easily receive the Qatari gas, which will be distributed into Europe.
The president underlined Qatar's active role in the dialogue among 'religions' and 'civilizations', noting that last year her country celebrated 100 years of recognition of Islam as an official religion in Croatia, adding that the Islamic community in Croatia is completely homogeneous and there is no persecution or discrimination against them.
President Kitarovic also said in fact she cannot imagine Croatian society without Islam and Muslims, adding that although there are not many Muslims in Croatia, they contribute significantly to the society and translate the cultural, civilizational and religious diversity of the country.
