Deputy Defence Minister awarded decoration to Austrian General Sulzgruber

General Sulzgruber was decorated at the proposal of the Minister of Defence for an outstanding contribution to the development and strengthening of bilateral defence cooperation between Croatia and Austria.

Deputy Minister of Defence Višnja Tafra underlined the contribution of General Sulzgruber to successful implementation and improvement of bilateral defence cooperation between the ministries of defence of the two countries, emphasizing that over the past few years, the defence cooperation between the two ministries focused on education and training, joint participation in exercises, as well as on the participation of members of the Croatian Armed Forces within the Austrian contingent in the UNDOF mission.

The Deputy Minister also stressed that Brigadier General Sulzgruber done his duty in extremely important period for Croatia, at a time when Croatia became a member of NATO and at the time that we have concluded the negotiations for European Union membership.

In the end, she pointed out that it was a great honour and pleasure to hand this award on behalf of the Croatian President, Mr. Ivo Josipović, as a token of appreciation for all the contributions, efforts and hard work during his mandate in Croatia.

General Sulzgruber thanked for their support and good cooperation during the past few years when he served as military attaché to Croatia. After his duty as a military attaché, General Sulzgruber will retire, expressing the regret that he will not be able to celebrate with his former colleagues the Croatian accession to the European Union. He also said that since 2007, from when he served as a military attaché, cooperation in defence and security area has been considerably advanced, which was particularly reflected in the Croatian participation in peacekeeping missions and operations.