Public diplomacy |
Diplomacy on the Internet
In addition to regular diplomatic activities, Croatia’s positive image in the world has been reinforced in many other ways – from presence in the public and media through cultural events, to conferences, lectures and similar public diplomacy activities.
In the course of the year, the Ministry prepared and published 505 press releases. The number of releases increased by about one hundred compared to previous year, testifying to increased activities of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Gordan Jandroković, state secretaries and other Ministry officials, and of Croatian ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives abroad.
The total of 38 websites of the Ministry and the diplomatic and consular missions today serve as a timely and high-quality source of information.
The Ministry's website (www.mvpei.hr, www.mfa.hr) introduced a new video section called “EU News”. New websites have been set up for the embassies in Sweden, Macedonia and Bulgaria.In 2009, the official Ministry's website recorded about 33 million hits by almost 586,000 individual visitors. The web page Croatian Economic Diplomacy recorded over 4 million hits by over 140,000 individual visitors.
In co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, the Government of the Republic of Croatia organised the fourth Croatia Summit entitled Energy, Investment and Development. This international conference for heads of state or government, high-ranking officials from European and North American countries, and representatives of international organisations took place in Dubrovnik on 9-10 July. In addition to providing other logistics services, the Ministry was responsible for about one hundred domestic and foreign journalists, photographers, cameramen and other members of accredited reporting teams who covered the event.
Publications
The Ministry's Yearbook 2008 was published in 2009 in electronic format only. The proceedings of the conference “Cultural Promotion and Diplomacy”, organised by the Diplomatic Academy in Dubrovnik in 2005, were published in English and edited by Mladen Andrlić and Valerija Šegota.
The book “Strategic Public Diplomacy: Shaping the Future of International Relations” was published in London in November 2009. The book contains papers by the Diplomatic Academy's Director Mladen Andrlić: “Diplomacy in Post-Conflict Situations” and the panel discussion “Ambassadors in Public Diplomacy”.
Conferences and lectures
In co-operation with different foreign partners, the Diplomatic Academy organised several conferences and seminars, and a series of guest lectures in 2009. The 12th CEI Dubrovnik Diplomatic Forum on “Modern European Diplomacy and Diplomatic Education” took place in Dubrovnik on 7-9 May. In early October, the same town was the venue of the 11th Joint Seminar of European Integration for Young Diplomats from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, organised in co-operation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation. Three conferences were organised in co-operation with the International Organisation of La Francophonie: “Challenges and Perspectives of the European Space of Freedom, Security and Justice” (Dubrovnik, 20 - 23 October), “EU Institutions and Decision Making Process” (Zagreb, 17-18 November) in co-operation with the College of Europe in Bruges, and the “Simulation of a Non-Governmental Organisations Conference” (Zagreb, 10-11 December) in co-operation with the Alliance Française Zagreb.
The lectures took place at the Diplomatic Academy or at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Zagreb. They are listed in chronological order:
- 9 January: “Croatia and the European Union: Our Common Challenges” - Joseph Daul, chairman of the EPP group in the European Parliament (lecture held at the Faculty of Political Science)
- 12 January: “Future of the EU: Financial Crisis, Lisbon Treaty and EU Enlargement” - Franco Frattini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic (lecture held at the Faculty of Political Science)
- 14 January: Milan Roćen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, spoke about the current situation in Montenegro and about European and Euro-Atlantic perspectives of the region (lecture held at the Faculty of Political Science)
- 5 February: “The Czech Presidency and Croatia's Accession to the EU” - Karel Kühnl, Ambassador of the Czech Republic (lecture held at the Diplomatic Academy)
- 24 March: “Nationalism in the Era of Globalisation” - Guy Laforest, Professor at the Université Laval in Quebec (lecture held at the Diplomatic Academy)
- 7 April: Indonesian Ambassador Mangasi Sihombing spoke about some aspects of Indonesian foreign policy and how Indonesia is coping with the current global economic crisis (lecture held at the Diplomatic Academy)
- 14 April: On “La Francophonie - history, development, diplomatic activity and co-operation” - Stéphane Lopez, project manager on the project The French Language in Europe (lecture held at the Diplomatic Academy)
- 28 April: Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer, founder and president of the association AmericaSpeaks lectured on involving citizens and NGOs in the decision making proces.
- 17 July: “Russia's Contemporary Foreign Policy” - Aleksandar Nikolajevič Panov, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Federation
- 2 September: “Important Issues related to Europe and the International Community” - Tarja Halonen, the President of Finland (lecture held at the Illyrian Hall of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts).
- 26 October: “European Union and its Global Role: Perspectives of the Lisbon Treaty” - Olof Ehrenkrona, advisor with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Promotion through culture
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration is co-operating closely with the Ministry of Culture in the implementation of the overall external cultural policy by promoting
Croatia in the broadest possible sense, but also as a desirable tourist destination, with an emphasis on cultural tourism.
In 2009, a total of 34 visual art projects, 15 music projects, 5 film projects and 13 other projects were developed and carried out (theatrical performances, promotion of books by Croatian authors, literary evenings, lectures). Some of the exhibitions include: "The Croatian Underwater World", "Croatian Lighthouses", "Unseen Croatia", "Colours of Croatia" "Zagreb", "Split in Marulić's Time" "The Tie Challenge", "Croatian Caricature", "Vucedol Thread". Several events took place under the title Croatian Film Days, concerts were given by the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, the Zagreb Guitar Quartet and solists Mario Perestegi, Tamara Jurkić-Sviben, Željka Caparin, and Srđan Bulat. Croatia co-financed the material for the sculpture of Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Bulgaria, and an exhibition of the works of Vlaho Bukovac in The Hague. Three completely new exhibitions were prepared: "Amazing Croatia" by Marko Vrdoljak, an exhibition of graphic design by Boris Ljubičić and the exhibition "Croats in America" by Vladimir Novak. Croatian cultural activities took place in 33 countries.
Several exhibitions were staged during the Days of Croatian Culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina, three theatrical groups performed (City Puppet Theatre of Rijeka, Zagreb Puppet Theatre,
Theatrical Company of the Blind and Visually Impaired "New Life") and three classical concerts were held. Tonči Staničić, Croatian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, diplayed his photographs in the Sarajevo gallery Mali Hram. The gallery Collegium artisticum in Sarajevo hosted two exhibitions: Damir Fabijanić's "Architecture in Rijeka 1845 - 1945" by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and "Split in Marulić's Time" from the holdings of the Split City Museum. Croatian theatres performed in Sarajevo, Žepče, Čitluk, Usora, Busovača and Bihać. The Sarajevo Bosnian Institute hosted opera concerts and a performance by the young violinist Đana Kahriman from Dubrovnik.