Bozinovic paid tribute to fallen British soldiers on Vis

The wreaths were laid at the British cemetery on Vis, and at the Monument of the Royal Air Force. A wreath at the monument laid the pilot who first landed on Vis, officer of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

At the Archaeological Museum on Vis, a joint photo exhibition organized by the Ministry of Defence and the British Embassy – ​​”British and Croatian allied forces in the service of peace” was opened, which in some thirty photographs displayed the participation of Croatian and British armed forces in several international operations and missions. Croatian author of photographs has been a long-time employee of the Ministry of Defence and military photographer of Croatian military media, while photographs of the British armed forces have been owned by the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The exhibition has so far been set up in Split, Zagreb and Varazdin.

The opening of the exhibition attended Minister Bozinovic, British Ambassador to Croatia David Blunt, Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ante Urlic, Mayor of Island of Vis Ivo Radica, Mayor of Komiza Tonka Ivcevic and British veterans and their families. At the opening of exhibition Minister Bozinovic stressed that “there is symbolism between the themes of photographs of British and Croatian authors and the island of Vis, and that is a joint effort of British and Croatian armed forces in international peacekeeping operations, and the island of Vis as a meeting place of British troops and Croatian anti-fascists during the Second World War. Today’s exhibition is just one proof of a sincere and firm alliance built at a time when the civilized world was challenged. This friendship was coming to the fore in times of contemporary Croatian history, in times of defence and building of the present Croatian state, in the days when Croatia joined NATO and now when Croatia is in final negotiations to join the EU”, Minister Bozinovic said.

British Ambassador to Croatia David Blunt thanked the Ministry of Defence for organization of the exhibition, and especially to Minister Bozinovic who with his visit to the island of Vis, paid tribute to British soldiers killed during World War II. “We are pleased that we have you as a partner in NATO and I would like to emphasize an important Croatian contribution to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. We highly appreciate the professionalism of members of CAF that you send to the ISAF mission and the professional manner in carrying out their duties”, Ambassador Blunt said.

During the opening of the exhibition, British Armed Forces’ officer Colonel Kevin Oliver and officer of the Croatian Armed Forces Colonel Berislav Sipicki, who was commander of the 14^th Croatian contingent in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan shared their experience of participating in ISAF international peacekeeping mission with the present. Talking about his experience from ISAF, Brigadier Sipicki recalled the role of Croatia as one of countries contributing forces that have concentrated their efforts on training and mentoring the military and police forces through the operational teams for mentoring and liaison, as well as other training teams. He also pointed out that meeting the final objective – a stable, secure and organized Afghanistan, which offers its citizens security, development and a better life, has been done trough contributing of thousands of troops to ISAF which honourably serve throughout Afghanistan.