Croatia is marking one of the most important dates on the annual calendar, Statehood Day, and the letters of congratulations to the President’s Office have been flooding in. 

Pope Francis, US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian President Sergio Mattarella have all sent letters of congratulations to the Croatian President and the Croatian people.

Pope Francis voiced hope that commitment to justice and peace would enable the building of a society in which every person could find their place, serenity and happiness. Whilst President Trump said US-Croatia partnership continued to grow stronger, both within NATO, where the two countries' troops stand shoulder to shoulder, defending the common freedom and in the economy and culture. Whilst Putin, who currently has his hands full with the 2018 World Cup said that building mutual co-operation between the two countries was in the interest of building a stable and secure Europe.

Congratulations to Croatian citizens on the occasion of Statehood Day also came from presidents Alexander Van der Bellen of Austria, Prokopios Pavlopoulos of Greece, E. Alain Berset of Switzerland, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez of Cuba, Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Abdul Hamid of Bangladesh and Michel Aoun of the Lebanon.

Congratulations were also sent by kings Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrein and Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein of Jordan, Emperor Akihito of Japan and Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman.