TRAVEL REPORT The Hon. Michael Atkinson MP Attorney-General ...

Croatian Program, 5EBI FMAtkinson's visit to Croatia(Presenter. I have with me the Honourable Michael Atkinson, SouthAustralian Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for MulticulturalAffairs and also Member for Croydon - welcome to the Croatian radio hourMinister Atkinson) Thank you, it's a great pleasure to be here (Presenter. Yourecently visited Croatia with Member for Norwood, Vini Ciccarello, was thisyour first visit to Croatia) Yes it was - for so many years people at theCroatian Club and at the soccer had been telling me . . . if you ever get achance to visit Croatia you should do that . . . a chance came up -we went toCroatia with Joe and Bronca Glamacek [phonetic] to promote the sale offishing vessels made in Adelaide to the Croatian Government (Presenter. . . .so that was the purpose of your visit?) That was the principal purpose . . . itwas unsuccessful - the Croatian Government was letting a major contract for30 fishing vessels to boost the Adriatic fishing fleet but alas the intention wasto make them all in split . . . we were unable to make any headway there,despite the Australian product being a good one (Presenter. How long didyou stay . . . what parts of Croatia did you visit?) We stayed 7 days . . . it washigh summer . . . the climate was warm . . . we visited Zagreb . . . spent time withthe Ambassador . . . we visited Eastern Slovenia . . . went to Osijek andVukovar to see how those towns were progressing after the war . . . the workthat the organisation for security and co-operation in Europe was doing thereto try to reintegrate the various ethnic groups in that area - we saw someplaces near Osijek where there were still mine fields . . . we spent some timewith Mr Glamocek's sister who lives in a house immediately underneath thefamous water tower in Vukovar which was shelled at the beginning of the war. . . we saw the devastation . . . but there is good recovery being made . . .people are coming back . . . also went to Slunj to see the waterfalls . . . then tothe Plivitzer [phonetic] Lakes, which are just unimaginably beautiful . . . water'sso clear that you can see all the fish . . . I had an impression the fish werefollowing me around looking for food . . . we went on through the mountainsand through the tunnels to a completely different landscape and climate . . .stayed in the old city of Zadar . . . then went to see David Tadoravic [phonetic],see his tourist operation . . . go for a cruise on the Adriatic . . . then we wentdown the Adriatic coast all the way to Dubrovnik . . . I could stay there for along time . . . only wish that I had bought myself a place in the old city duringthe war when they were going cheap (Presenter: What was your impressionof Croatian people . . . culture . . .) Croatian people were tremendously friendlyand hospitable . . . a cafe society in which people loved to go out at night . . . it'sa country that's recovering well, the economy is improving, civil society andpolitics are settling down . . . I think Croatia's going tremendously ahead . . .there will be growth there, there will be employment opportunities . . . there'schances for Australia in investment - we were told in Croatia that they need adairy industry because they're importing so much of their dairy products ; theyneed cold storage, they need greenhouses, they need to grow flowers, whichthey're importing from The Netherlands . . . the fishing industry will go ahead(Presenter. . . . I was going to ask you about bilateral trade opportunities . . .the obvious . ., sector, the dairy there . . . are there any other obvious businesssectors that you think are opportunities for bilateral trade?) . . . an area whereAustralia could help Croatia is with Croatia's tremendous backlog in civil lawTravel Report, Hon. Michael Atkinson, MP . and Ms. Vini Ciccarello MP., August, 2004