Ministers assure Croatia safe country for tourists

Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic and Tourism Minister Darko Lorencin on Thursday signed an agreement in the Istrian town of Valbandon on co-financing the "Safe tourism season" project and on that occasion said that safety was one of the reasons why tourists came and kept coming back to the Adriatic.

The ministers were attending the 8th conference of police chiefs ahead of this year's tourist season with police chiefs of 13 countries in attendance. They signed a memorandum on international cooperation during the tourism season between participant countries.

Croatia is a safe country, the conference heard, and it will remain that way, which will be ensured by Croatian police with the assistance of 60 police officers from other countries.

Minister Ostojic, however, said that absolute security could never be guaranteed and that this would be a false message.

"The only fact is that until now we have always managed to deal with incidents and that thanks to this cooperation we have a safe environment", he said.

Asked by reporters to comment on statistics concerning the Interior Ministry and headlines in the papers that Ostojic was the worst police minister since 2001, Ostojic said that he had also been proclaimed the best police chief in history.

Something is not right here. In 2000 there were 101 murders, today that figure is 51 so someone should explain this. It's not simply a matter of comparing figures, he said. (Hina)