President Kolinda Grabar- Kitarović Joins Chicago’s Croatian Community

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar- Kitarović has spent the first working day of 2016 with the Croatian community in Chicago…

Grabar- Kitarović, who is currently on a short working-visit to America, attended a charity dinner at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Chicago where around 600 people turned up. $10,000 was raised on the evening for the ‘Bubamara’ non-profit association for people with disabilities in Vinkovci, Croatia.

When asked why she chose to be in Chicago for the first working day of 2016, Grabar- Kitarović said that whilst a new government was still being formed in Croatia she had an opportunity to leave the country.

“Because the visit to Minnesota to mark the 20th anniversary of cooperation between Croatia and the state of Minnesota was delayed because of the elections, now because the Parliament is still to be constituted I decided now to make this quick, humble and very satisfying visit to Chicago,” she told HRT.

Grabar- Kitarović told Chicago’s Croatian community that in the first year of her mandate she had done a number of things, but there was still a lot of work still to go.

President attends a mass in Chicago (photo/screenshot hrt)

“I see a new level of optimism among Croatian citizens and also between Croatian citizens and the Croatian people both at home and here around the world. I believe that through this fellowship in meeting common goals, a better life in a better Croatia, we can really do a lot, said the President.

(main photo/croatianculturalcenterchicago)