Pelosi Remarks at Photo Opportunity with the Honorable Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament

Zagreb, Croatia – Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a photo opportunity with the Honorable Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, following a bilateral meeting. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Speaker Pelosi.Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for the honor of visiting with you and your distinguished members of parliament here. It's an honor to be in Sabor Palace. Thank you for your welcome.

This may be my first visit – the first visit of a Speaker of the United States Congress to Croatia, but it is not my first visit to Croatia. I came first in the 90s as the top Democrat on the Foreign Assistance Subcommittee of Appropriations, and I saw firsthand the courage of the Croatian people, the suffering that you experienced at the hands of neighbors, and that you are using that experience to help the Ukrainians, and we're grateful to you for that.

Mr. Speaker, in our relationships with other countries and in our visits, it's about three things. It's about security. It's about economics. And it's about governance. And our relationship with Croatia is one that is growing on all these fronts. Our security cooperation is important not only to the region, but for peace in a broader sense. Our moving – as you have called it – forward to the double taxation agreement and further investment from the U.S. into Croatia and vice versa is a really important part of our present and future. And in governance, moving toward peace, Visa Waiver Program, respect for your people and the importance of our increased communications between our two countries is the value that we place on the U.S.-Croatia relationship.

On this visit to Croatia, I have a co-leader of our Delegation, and that is Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia. He has been invited by the Ukrainians and Croatia as the President of the North Atlantic interparliamentary group. He knows some of the members of parliament here, as do I – it's not our first visit with some of them. But he brought a very interesting NATO perspective to our conversation that is very valued.

We are especially proud that an American has been elected the President of the North Atlantic interparliamentary assembly in light of, shall we say, recent history and concern about our commitment to NATO. Thank you, Mr. Connolly.

So we're very grateful to President Zelenskyy for his invitation to be here, for Speaker Stefanchuk for the invitation he's extended to so many of us to participate, giving us an opportunity to come to Croatia so we can renew our friendship.

And I thank you, Mr. Speaker and the Prime Minister, for the hospitality you are extending to so many, scores of [countries] participating virtually. And more even so, in reality here, to discuss the important issue of democracy. To admire the courage of the people of Ukraine, for their courage to fight for democracy for their country. And to be grateful to the people of Croatia, for the hospitality that you have extended to Ukrainian refugees, for the military support you have given, for, again, using your own experience as a model for how this comes to a victory. But not only that, those responsible for so many atrocities are held accountable.

So thank you, Mr. Speaker, once again, for affording us this opportunity to have a conversation with your colleagues so that we can, once again, share with you the importance of the U.S.-Croatia relationship, how important we are to each other, what a future we see with each other as we go forward. And again, to thank you, because Croatia presents itself as a very comfortable place for us to come together to talk about peace, diplomacy, ending the war in Ukraine in a way that is [a] victory for democracy.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.