Forbes: Croatia's President World's 39th Most Powerful Woman

The American business magazine Forbes has published its annual list of the world's most powerful women and Croatia's President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is in 39th place.

President Grabar-Kitarović is listed behind New Zealand's new Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, and Jean Liu, the president of Chinese ridesharing startup Didi Chuxing. This is not the first time Croatia's president has made the Forbes list. She was ranked 46th in 2016. When it comes to women in politics, she is ranked 14th, again behind Ardern and ahead of Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland. German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to top the list, followed by British Prime Minister Theresa May in second place.

Forbes notes that she is the youngest president Croatia has ever had as well as the first woman to be elected to the office. "Grabar-Kitarovic has continued to make a name for herself on the international stage this year working with President Donald Trump and the U. S. to build an American liquefied natural gas import facility on Croatia's Krk Island in the Mediterranean, which would deliver up to 2 billion cubic meters of gas a year to be distributed to Western Europe and nearby Baltic nations, which should help ease Europe's energy dependence on Russia," the Forbes article states. The publication also cites that in 2016 she visited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani "to talk about strengthening diplomatic relations".

Asked by N1 television to comment on the Forbes list, the president said that while she respected the opinions of the experts at Forbes, the support of Croatians meant more to her. She added that she saw herself not only as a politician, but a politician who served to promote and represent the interests of her country.