President Bill Clinton in Zagreb

On his return from Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina), where he had visited a contingent of American soldiers in charge of implementing the military part of the Dayton-Paris Agreement, the US President Bill Clinton travelled to Zagreb, where he was received by the President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman. In accordance with the Dayton Agreement, on 29 February the Bosnian Serbs lifted the siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, which had started in April 1992 and where 14,000 people were killed. The siege lasted 44 months, three times longer than the siege of Stalingrad.

1996

6 November

Photo: Council of Europe

Croatia becomes the 40th Member State of the Council of Europe

After Croatia's membership of the UN and OSCE, accession to the Council of Europe was one of its first great diplomatic successes. This is also testament to Croatia's major progress in terms of respect of democratic standards and human rights. On the left, Mate Granić, Minister of Foreign Affairs, gives a speech at the seat of the organisation in Strasbourg.