Prime Minister Andrej Plenković received today in Banski dvori the members of the Croatian folklore group Zagreb from Perth, who are on tour in Croatia.
In his speech, the Prime Minister welcomed them to Croatia, saying that he was glad that, in addition to the Banske dvore, they also visited the Croatian Parliament.
He said that their destinies are also the destinies of the Croatian people, saying that poverty, wars, diseases, but also political circumstances influenced the departure of Croats from their homeland.
"But that link, which has remained in many generations, is still firm and strong", pointed out Plenković, which also contributes to the cultivation of Croatian culture and identity in emigration. He added that he was particularly pleased with the large number of young members of the folklore group Zagreb.
The Prime Minister said that the world, as well as technology, have changed a lot, which gives our emigrants a realistic insight into the situation in Croatia, which is a free and modern country today. He mentioned that Croatia soon expects to join the OECD, which, he emphasized, has fulfilled all its strategic international goals.
That is why, he added, a lot of work remains in Croatia, highlighting three topics that are important in order to see where our country is today.
The first thing he mentioned was the aging of Croatia and the large deficit of natural growth, which, he added, represents a structural problem for our country. He said that this is why the Government established the Ministry of Demography and Immigration. "We will try to mitigate these negative trends and encourage the family, which is the nucleus of Croatian society," said Plenković.
He highlighted education as another important topic, saying that without further investment in education, we will not be able to compete with those who have had democracy for longer, stronger and better educational institutions, and therefore a stronger economy.
He then stated that it is important to monitor technological progress in terms of digital transformation because, according to the Prime Minister, it is now about the jobs of the future.
He also stressed that we must be aware of the large, strong, fast and even devastating consequences of climate change, saying that summer storms did not bypass Croatia either. As an example, he cited the recent storm that hit the Municipality of Bošnjaci.
At the end, he once again thanked the Croatian folklore group Zagreb for their visit and wished them a pleasant stay in Croatia during their tour.
Every year the number of applications for citizenship in Perth increases
The Consul General of the Republic of Croatia in Perth, Zoran Šangut, thanked Prime Minister Plenković and the Government of the Republic of Croatia for all the legal acts in the last eight years, which, he said, were recognized by expats around the world, including those in Australia.
At the same time, he pointed out the new Act on the acquisition of Croatian citizenship, saying that every year the number of applications for citizenship increases in Perth, but also in other Australian cities.
"This year, at the Consulate in Perth, we handed out more than 60 citizenships to our emigrants in two days, and before the Law, it took us six months to reach that figure," he pointed out.
Šangut also thanked the Government for increasing the funds of the Central State Office for Croats outside Croatia, which, he said, made it possible to finance 32 projects in Australia in the past year.
He added that the arrival of the folklore group from Perth was also supported by funds from the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
Šangut emphasized that Croatian emigrants in Australia bought all three consulates in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne and built the Croatian Embassy in Canberra, which makes them unique in the whole world.
He also pointed out that every two months one family from Perth returns to the Republic of Croatia and that some of them stay there permanently.
The tour of Croatia is a story about returning home
The representative of the Croatian folklore group Zagreb from Perth, Raymond Vicko Pecotic, began his speech with a quote from a popular song "It is the land of my grandfather and my father", which is also the motto of their tour in Croatia.
"This is a story about returning home, about returning to the roots, this is more than an ordinary tour, for us this is a pilgrimage to the land of our fathers and grandfathers", he pointed out, adding that many of the members of this folklore group are in Croatia for the first time.
He said that they started the tour in Zagreb because it is a symbol of Croatian identity and the capital of all Croats, both those who live in our country and those born outside its borders.
Pecotic said that the Croatian folklore group Zagreb began its activities in the fifties of the last century, and then developed into a folklore society in the seventies and eighties.
He thanked the Government and the Central State Office for Croats outside Croatia for the help they used to invest in their costumes, but also in preparing for this tour.
At the end, Pecotic expressed his satisfaction that Prime Minister Plenković hosted them in the Banski dvori, and on that occasion they presented him with a boomerang as a symbol of the homeland and the expatriate Croatia.
Source and photo: Government of the Republic of Croatia
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