The victims of the Holocaust must never be forgotten and the world must commit to preventing such evil from ever happening again, Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said in Jerusalem on Wednesday after visiting Yad Vashem and paying the deepest respects to the victims on behalf of the Croatian government.
"We remember the six million Jews who were executed in the most monstrous way in World War Two," she added.
Kosor turned up the Eternal Flame and laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance.
"We will not forget the victims of the Holocaust, but we must also commit to doing everything so that such evil never happens again," she said.
"Croatia is proud of having anti-fascism in the foundations of its statehood and in line with that we are trying on a daily basis, notably through the education of young people, to do the utmost so that the insanity of the Holocaust is not forgotten," Kosor said, adding that Croatian school programmes on the Holocaust had been praised around the world.
"We are doing our best to teach young people not to be afraid of others and those who are different," she said.
Kosor also planted a carob-tree in the Grove of the Nations, which is part of the Jerusalem Forest, following in the footsteps of former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and former PM Ivo Sanader.
After planting the tree, Kosor said she and her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu would discuss economic relations, since political relations between Croatia and Israel were free of outstanding issues.
"We will talk about improving Croatian-Israeli cooperation, notably in the economy," she said, adding that a bilateral economic forum would be held in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Kosor said tourism was an area in which economic cooperation could be intensified, stressing that the number of Israeli tourists vacationing in Croatia in 2010 was 14 per cent higher on the year.
Kosor said she would invite Netanyahu to visit Croatia.
