By Rudina Hoxha
Working in the diplomatic service for 23 years, the new Croatian Ambassador to Albania, Sanja Bujas-Juraga, a lawyer by profession, states in her first exclusive interview in Albania that she feels like home “because Croatia and Albania have excellent bilateral relations, based on openness and transparency.”
Diplomatic relations between Croatia and Albania have been established in August 1992, early on after Croatia’s proclamation of independence.
She emphasized that her big challenge is “to mobilize different sectors or our societies, local authorities and the business communities to stronger engagement in developing our bilateral cooperation, with measurable and visible results.”
The new Croatian Ambassador put a lot of stress on the judiciary reform. “For the sake of the Albanian citizens and for the sake of the stability and the prosperity of this beautiful country we are most hopeful that there will be a breakthrough in the current internal strife between political parties and enough wisdom in all stakeholders to adopt and start implementing the justice reform. Without further delay of course – because missing out on this opportunity will delay launching of negotiations with the EU, and that will certainly be detrimental for the development of the country,” she said.
Full interview below:
Your Excellency, can you please make a short introduction of yourself?
Originally I am from the beautiful Dalmatian City of Š ibenik. I moved to Zagreb when I enrolled in the Faculty of Law. In the meantime for me and my family, Zagreb has become our hometown. My husband is a University professor. My two children are adult and have their professions and families. Deep in my heart, I am still very much connected to my Dalmatian roots though.
I have been a professional diplomat for 23 years, ever since I joined the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with a small group of colleagues who had a strong desire to help in building Croatian state institutions. We started out without any practical knowledge of diplomacy. Those were difficult but at the same time also unforgettable times.
What are your impressions of Albania? Have your expectations been met?
I assumed my duties as Croatian Ambassador in Tirana at the very beginning of this year. Coming to Albania seemed to me as going to a familiar country because of our historic ties, because of the beautiful Adriatic Sea that connects us, and above all because of the genuine friendship between our nations that I have been very well aware of.
Since my arrival, my positive feelings and expectations have been confirmed in so many ways. I can see many similarities in the mentality and the cultural spirit of our two nations. Besides, the hospitality of Albanians is so unique and overwhelming to the extent that it has made me feel like a citizen of Tirana.
It is a great honour for me to represent my country in the Republic of Albania. Croatia and Albania have excellent bilateral relations, based on openness and transparency, without any open issues.
Nevertheless, it is a big challenge for me to mobilize different sectors or our societies, local authorities and the business communities to stronger engagement in developing our bilateral cooperation, with measurable and visible results.
Albania and Croatia established diplomatic relations many years ago. What is the state of the bilateral relations today?
Diplomatic relations between Croatia and Albania have been established in August 1992, early on after Croatia’s proclamation of independence. Our independence movement coincided with the processes of abolition of communism in Albania. Those were turbulent times for both countries – of the greatest historic significance for the future of our nations.
Bearing in mind the traditional friendship between our peoples, we have been sympathetic and supportive of each other from then on really.
We had the same foreign policy priorities from the very beginning – membership in NATO and the EU. We joined NATO together in 2009 and have been most successfully cooperating in this organization and different peacekeeping missions ever since. Croatia has been a strong supporter to Albania on its path to the EU from the very beginning and it still is one of the fiercest advocates of EU enlargement in Brussels.
We do care about Albania and the developments in this country. Right now we are paying the greatest attention to the processes related to the justice reform. For the sake of the Albanian citizens and for the sake of the stability and the prosperity of this beautiful country we are most hopeful that there will be a breakthrough in the current internal strife between political parties and enough wisdom in all stakeholders to adopt and start implementing the justice reform. Without further delay of course – because missing out on this opportunity will delay launching of negotiations with the EU, and that will certainly be detrimental for the development of the country.
I would also like to stress that we have an intensive exchange of bilateral visits on the highest level. Two months ago President Nishani officially visited Croatia and the talks with our President Grabar-Kitarović and other Croatian dignitaries were most successful. A few days back Minister Kumbaro Furxhi visited Croatia and a Programme of Cultural Cooperation was signed with most specific cooperation frameworks – for example in restauration of Albanian cultural heritage, but also in launching cooperation between the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and the Tirana Theatre of Opera and Ballet.
Croatian experts have been very active in the EU Twinning projects providing technical assistance to Albanian authorities. We are very proud of that. As it happens, Croatia is the “youngest” member of the EU with the freshest experience of EU accession and that is our advantage. We are doing our best to transfer our knowledge and experiences to Albanian institutions.
Economically our two countries are not overly powerful but we can offer much more to each other than we are doing now. There is definitely room for intensification of our economic cooperation. There is huge potential for that because our economies are compatible in so many ways and we have to explore all opportunities. In order to facilitate that, we need a direct flight Zagreb – Tirana but also a maritime connection. We are in the process of negotiating ferry routes between Croatian ports and Durres. These connections would be most helpful for our business relations but also for tourism.
My first and foremost priority is to initiate the necessary changes – be it in trade exchange, investments, joint ventures, or cultural cooperation. To succeed in this, we definitely need better traffic connections.
What is the Croatian experience of being in NATO, 7 years after joining the pact? How is this cooperation with Albania going?
NATO membership was one of the key strategic priorities for our two nations. We achieved that goal seven years ago becoming full-fledged NATO members together.
From that time on the security environment has changed a lot and being under the NATO umbrella is nowadays very important for our security and stability. At the same time we shouldn’t consider NATO only as a provider of benefits. It is the common responsibility of all allies to contribute to peace and security and to protect the values of the NATO Alliance.
We shouldn’t forget that NATO is a political and military organization and its allies are committed to individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. These values are at the heart of NATO’s Transatlantic Bond.
Security concerns have been on the rise last few years. I can be even more precise and say that we have been facing Eastern and Southern flank security challenges. Today the greatest responsibility of the Alliance is again to protect and defend NATO’s territory and populations.
All these elements are and will be in the focus of the upcoming Warsaw Summit. The recent one, the Wales Summit was deemed as historic because of its visionary decisions. I would say that the Warsaw Summit shouldn’t be less important as it has to deliver more concrete and operative decisions.
The partnerships will remain the most relevant NATO instruments for acting together in peace missions and operations, and creating a global network to address the threats like terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Concerning our neighbourhood, Croatia and Albania are among biggest advocates of the Open Door Policy having a common understanding that the stability of this region is very much in correlation with the full incorporation of the SEE in Euro-Atlantic organizations. As a big success story we see Montenegro, and for sure the voices of our two countries about the geostrategic importance for Alliance of having Montenegro in NATO contributed to the success.
Croatia and Albania will continue to strongly push forward this agenda for others who would like to join NATO. At this stage I would like to mention the Republic of Kosovo that is making strong efforts and expressing strong will and commitment to join initiatives like the US-Adriatic Charter. That initiative is offering cooperation and exchange of views and activities contributing to stability of SEE. It is for sure a common Croatian-Albanian goal to support Kosovo and we will not give up on that.
Are the Croatian expectations about EU being met? Is there disappointment?
Croatia’s membership in the European Union is a dream come true, the same as the membership in NATO. We are proud of being part of the EU in any respect, particularly in the decision making processes and the creation of common European policies. The EU is an intricate structure as such as we know but we have gradually mastered the operational templates and our officials and experts feel at home in Brussels by now. The efficiency of our cooperation with EU institutions applies more and more to the use of the “famous” EU funds as well, both on the national and local level.
To come back to your specific question – the answer is Yes. Our expectations have been met of course. We knew all along what EU membership stood for. Things have been changing in Croatia thanks to EU membership in many positive ways. The transition does not happen overnight though and it certainly will take a few more years for our society and institutions to introduce the so called European standards in all spheres. We are surely getting there.
Tourism is not only a matter of bilateral exchange, but also a common opportunity. Might a joint appearance of both Croatian and Albanian tourist boards in European markets be the way to go?
Tourism is one of the most important pillars of both the Croatian and Albanian economies. That is another similarity between our countries – the huge tourism potential. We are more advanced in this domain of course but thanks to that we are in the position to assist Albania in the development of its potential. Albanian authorities are very much interested in this specific kind of cooperation to the point – as we have been told – that Croatia is in many ways a model tourist country for Albania. We are proud and appreciative of that. Just recently there was a very successful meeting in Tirana between the Croatian Minister of Construction and Spatial Planning Mr Lovro KuŠ¡Äević and Minister Eglantina Gjermeni. Our institutions are seriously looking into all business and cooperation opportunities.
I would also like to mention another recent example of new opportunities. Namely, representatives of numerous tourist agencies from Dubrovnik visited Albania a few months back. The visit was organized by the tourist boards of the Dubrovnik County and the Albanian Tourist Association. Croatian tour operators met with the Albanian partners. They were discussing models and frameworks of future cooperation and visited important tourist sites in Albania. As a result of this most successful event we have already launched mixed tourist packages for this tourist season. There is so much potential and obviously we are on the right track to tap it.
All in all, we would like us to take better advantage of the friendship there is between our countries and peoples. In my term of duty I personally will not shy any effort to make a tangible contribution to the development of our relations with this beautiful country and its people.
