SECRETARY CLINTON:

Well, it’s a great honor and a privilege to welcome the foreign minister from Croatia. We have strongly supported the many important steps that Croatia has taken to become firmly embedded in the transatlantic community. We applaud the progress on the European Union front, and the leadership role that Croatia plays in the region as we work together to resolve a lot of the continuing challenges.

So Minister, welcome to the State Department.

FOREIGN MINISTER PUSIC: Thank you very much. I want to thank Madam Secretary for your kind words, for your continuous help in Croatia’s progress. So it’s, I would say, first of all, a more citizen-friendly government and country. We needed to develop on all different issues regarding the functioning of the institutions and use the accession to the European Union as a state-building device here. And you really helped along the way, and I hope it shows that it produced results.

We understand that it is also important not only to stabilize our own country, but to stabilize the region. And if we can make a contribution, a serious contribution, on any level, it is within the region. And (a) we are ready to do that, and (b) I’m really looking forward to having this talk with you.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you so much. I’m really pleased to have you here. Thank you all very much.