Vladimir Raspudić, Ambassador of
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Five Stars Zagreb Issue 32 — March 01, 2010.

The first time I visited Zagreb, the capital of the Republic of Croatia, I was a twelve year old schoolboy of the First Classical Grammar School in Sarajevo, when Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were still parts of the same country, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In that time Zagreb had about two times less inhabitants than nowadays.

We were on a seven days excursion, visiting the famous cultural and historical monuments of Croatia. Before the arrival to Zagreb, we visited some beautiful towns on the Adriatic coast. We were delighted over the beauty of the Adriatic Sea, as well over the history and the monuments of which some were even more than one thousand years old.

When we came to Zagreb we saw a lot of beautiful parks, squares, old palaces, churches and were especially fascinated by the famous cathedral. Concert halls, theatres, galleries, cinemas and many other landmarks that made Zagreb a typical western European city captivated our attention.

But Croatian history was not easy. Even today I remember the lectures about the first three Croatian kings, about the loss of  independence in the eleventh century and the nine hundred years of efforts and battles for re-establishing and securing  independence, about the struggles for the Croatian language, which for centuries was not the official one, as well as the resistance to Germanization, Hungarization and Italianization.

Afterwards, when I was studying tourism economics and later the foreign trade economics in Croatia I worked a lot with many Croatian companies (hotels, agencies, transport companies, ports etc.). Due to that fact I frequently visited Zagreb and got better acquainted with this charming town. But, I had never even thought that I would one day come to Zagreb as the ambassador of akin, but foreign country! Akin yes, but foreign country – it’s still not easy to comprehend. But, yes, it happened!! Anyway, thanks to many factors, especially to the fact that we, the people of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, were living for centuries  together or next to each other,  I can’t think of myself as a foreigner in the Republic of Croatia, at least not the foreigner in the sense of an inhabitant of any European country.

It’s a great facilitation when I can use my own language while communicating with the Croatian people, representatives of the state institutions, ministries, government and other officials who can understand the language which I use in daily communication. Namely, the language which I use and the Croatian one are almost the same. That enables easier communication and in turn, easier solving of any bilateral open issues between the two friendly countries who are doing their best to improve their already good relationships.

Republic of Croatia is the member of many international organizations and NATO as well.   Hopefully, very soon Croatia will achieve its second most important political goal – to  become the 28th member of the European Union. This is very important for Croatia but at the same time for the entire region, including Bosnia and Herzegovina.