PM Plenkovic says Trump's UN General Assembly address as expected

U.S. President Donald Trump's address at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday was as expected, underlining US interests as well as cooperation with other countries, said Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, himself attending the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.

"The address was in line with expectations, regardless of the fact that he repeated 'America first', this time he also mentioned cooperation with other countries, including within the UN," Plenkovic told reporters.

"As for his more strong-worded positions, they were also as expected, regarding North Korea, Iran and Venezuela... generally speaking, I would say it is a matter of his style, but it is nothing unexpected considering the first ten months of his term in office," said Plenkovic.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Trump said that the United States would be forced to completely destroy North Korea if the authorities in Pyongyang did not abandon nuclear weapon development. He also attacked Iranian nuclear and regional aspirations, stressed that the collapsing democracy in Venezuela was unacceptable and underlined the threat of Islamic extremists.

Asked what he expected of his stay in New York this week, Plenkovic said that he would try to convey Croatia's positions on key global issues and major trends, from climate change and poverty to terrorism and migrations.

"We will also give certain recommendations as to how to contribute to peace processes since our country was a recipient of security and is now a provider of security in UN and NATO as well as EU missions," he said.

Asked if he would meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar, Plenkovic said that he had already met with Vucic and that he had congratulated Cerar on his country's winning the European Basketball Championship.

According to a statement from Vucic's office, he and Plenkovic exchanged views on their countries' relations and the need for their improvement, as well as on the general situation in the region of Southeast Europe.

The two officials also discussed concrete measures the two countries should take to make their citizens feel concrete benefits of their cooperation.

Plenkovic today also attended a meeting of the Global Pact for the Environment chaired by French President Emanuel Macron.

Text: Hina

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