Milanović to Canadian Croats: We must create a country to which you will return

Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Saturday at a meeting with Canadian Croats in Burlington that the task is to make Croatia a more developed, richer and non-corrupt country to which they, their children or grandchildren will return, announced the Office of the President.

I am glad to see that you are successful and that you have built a new home here. But, I sincerely wish that your children or grandchildren, and maybe some of you, return to Croatia. The Croatian state, despite all its problems, is today the most organized since it existed. In spite of and despite all the disagreements and quarrels, the country settled down, we entered the EU and after ten years the membership is taking on healthy contours. Can it do better, it can, it can do much better. And that is our task: to make Croatia a more developed and richer country that will be uncorrupt and strict in following the rules. And you will know best where you belong. Croatia is always open for you. “If you stay here, good luck to you, and if you come to Croatia, we will be happy for you,” said President Zoran Milanović to the Croats in Canada with whom he met in Burlington on Saturday, at a formal reception organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Croatia and the Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia in Mississauga on the occasion of his working visit to Canada.

In front of about 200 Canadian Croats from the province of Ontario, where the largest number of Croatian emigrants live, President Milanović said how nice it is to come to the country that provided refuge to Croatian people when they set out in search of a better life.

Today, many of them are successful and have their own lives in Canada, but they are aware that they are Croats and that they have a strong and unbreakable connection with Croatian history, customs and culture, the press release states.

A portion of those customs, which they preserved in Canada, were shown to the president by the members of the choir from Toronto at the reception.

President Milanović was convinced that there are many successful people in business among Canadian Croats at a working meeting with Canadian businessmen of Croatian origin, added the press release.

Earlier in the day, the President participated in a meeting organized by the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce, which was attended by about 20 businessmen from the Croatian community in Canada. They informed the president about the experiences of investors who are already doing business in Croatia, about investment intentions, but also about the obstacles that investors face and suggestions on how to remove these obstacles and take advantage of the interest of Canadian investors.

Representing the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce, one of the more active and influential Croatian associations in Canada, which brings together Canadian businessmen of Croatian origin and their companies and organizations, the businessmen highlighted their efforts to bring Canadian and Croatian business entities closer together and to develop and deepen economic, trade, political and cultural ties between the two countries.

In addition to daily operations in the sense of providing support in business and trade between Canada and Croatia, the Chamber is a significant promoter of Croatian identity in Canada, they told the president.

Canada has one of the largest and most successful Croatian communities outside of Croatia, and the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce brings together companies, experts and organizations with strategic relations, be it economic, commercial, political or cultural - in Canada and Croatia that have a lot to offer our beautiful country. We introduced the President to several of them and to some investors of Croatian roots who do business or want to do business in Croatia, we also informed him of their experiences. Questions that have been repeated for many years are: how can the full potential of Croatian emigration be used, as Ireland did, for example, and when will the immigration model with a special focus on the younger, educated Croatian generation around the world be applied? The president accepted that he will consider some questions raised during the meeting, said Ivan Grbešić, a member of the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

Source: HRT