Croatian Visit

Readers may remember that in 2009 HSH Prince Albert II visited the Adriatic country of Croatia. On Tuesday the courtesy was returned when President Ivo Josipovic and First Lady Tatjana Josipovic visited the Principality of Monaco where they were greeted and welcomed by Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene. The Princely Carabiniers turned out to provide a guard and honor with all appropriate pomp and ceremony in the Cour d’Honneur of the Princely Palace. The Prince and the President (both wearing their Croat-Monegasque friendship pins) inspected the guard and then retired to discuss increasing the diplomatic and other ties between Monaco and Croatia as well as (who could guess) discussing how they could cooperate in environmental protection. Afterwards the two couples had lunch (as this was only a day visit there was no formal state banquet). This visit also comes at a time when many in Croatia have been pushing to join the European Union so it is not unusual they the Croatian President would seek to strengthen ties and be as friendly as possible to all western European countries. The small Catholic country of Croatia has been around a very long time but most recently only gained independence in 1991 after a very costly war of independence.