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2nd LD Writethru-Roundup: Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic sworn in as Croatia's first woman president

Xinhua, February 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic was sworn in as Croatia's President here on Sunday.

The inauguration ceremony kicked off at midday at the St. Mark's Square in downtown Zagreb.

During the ceremony, Grabar-Kitarovic signed the presidential oath in the front of Constitutional Court judges, and received the presidential sash from Judge Jasna Omejec.

In her speech delivered at the inauguration, Grabar-Kitarovic called on Croatian citizens to leave divisions and misconceptions to history and unite together to build a better Croatia.

"Only united can we build a better Croatia. Let us compete with ideas, solutions and innovations," she said.

She promised to do her best to build Croatia into "the country that young people will not leave, the country which will have more births than deaths, where people in their best years will reap the fruits of their work."

Grabar-Kitarovic's presidency comes at a time when Croatia has to address challenges brought about by its long-time recession.

The President underlined the importance of creating new jobs and strengthening Croatia's export.

On the front of foreign policy, Grabar-Kitarovic said Croatia will cooperate with its allies in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as its neighboring countries.

"I hope that countries in Southeast Europe become members of the European family and in this respect we offer hand of cooperation," she said.

She also hopes to resolve remaining issues between neighboring countries, such as border disputes, establishing the truth about its missing persons in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, as well as the mutual respect of minority groups' rights.

Dozens of foreign delegations attended the inauguration ceremony. Participants of the ceremony include Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Slovak President Andrej Kiska, Hungarian President Janos Ader, and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy, Miao Wei, who is currently the minister of industry and information technology, also attended the ceremony.

Grabar-Kitarovic, 46, won the presidential election after defeating President Ivo Josipovic in a run-off in January, 2015. She is the fourth President of Croatia and also the first woman to hold the title of Croatian President since the country's independence in 1991.

She had served as Croatia's foreign minister, Croatia's ambassador to the United States and the Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy at NATO.

Born in Lubarska, near the Croatian coastal city of Rijeka, she obtained a master degree in international relations from the University of Zagreb, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the George Washington University in the United States.

Croatian President is elected every five years and can serve no more than two consecutive terms. Josipovic, the third President of the country, took office in 2010. Enditem