[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11225]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA'S AMBASSADOR KOLINDA GRABAR KITAROVIC

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JAY INSLEE

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 14, 2011

  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a founding member of the 
Congressional Croatian Caucus to recognize the service of Croatia's 
Ambassador to the United States, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, and the work 
of other Croatian Americans. On March 30, 2011, Kolinda Grabar 
Kitarovic was named a top deputy to the North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization's (NATO's) Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. She 
will serve as NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy 
and she departed Washington for Brussels at the end of June.
  Many in the United States will miss Ambassador Grabar Kitarovic. On 
March 19, 2008, she was sworn in as Ambassador Extraordinary and 
Plenipotentiary of Croatia to the United States after serving three 
years as Foreign Minister of her new nation-state. In Washington, she 
effectively communicated her nation's desires to join the West and 
fully integrate her country into Euro-Atlantic multilateral alliances 
after the dissolution of the former Socialist Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Ambassador Grabar Kitarovic, the 
Congressional Croatian Caucus, and the National Federation of Croatian 
Americans (NFCA) successfully pushed the NATO Treaty to passage in the 
U.S. Senate, an important achievement for her country. As her record 
demonstrates, Ambassador Grabar has made a positive impact on both our 
country and her native Croatia.
  The Croatian Caucus was also instrumental in supporting Croatia's bid 
for full membership in NATO--along with the entire Croatian American 
community as led by the NFCA--in an earlier legislative initiative. In 
December 2005, the House passed H. Res. 529 underlining the Republic of 
Croatia's readiness to join NATO, and I heard from many Croatian 
Americans in my district and state on the importance of the passage of 
this Resolution in the House and Senate.
  In recognizing the work of Ambassador Grabar Kitarovic, I would also 
like to recognize two Croatian Americans who, through their work, made 
a positive impact on myself and on my constituents. As a young high 
school student growing up in Seattle, I had the good fortune to have 
played football for one of the greatest high school coaches in 
Washington state history, who was also a Croatian American: Coach Tony 
Gasparovic of Ingraham High School. He continues to be remembered 
fondly by hundreds of his former players.
  Another important Croatian American is business leader Ed Loverich, 
who founded Town and Country Market on Bainbridge Island, Washington in 
1957. This store is still a thriving town center today, and has 
expanded to more locations throughout the Seattle area. These are only 
a few of the positive contributions that the Croatian-American 
community has made on the Pacific Northwest, and our country as a 
whole.
  I believe that I also speak for the Croatian Caucus Co-Chairs in 
wishing Ambassador Grabar Kitarovic and her husband, Jakov Kitarovic, 
and their two children the best of luck and success in Brussels. We 
hope her work with NATO brings her back through Washington in the 
coming years.

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