 Today on our Ambassador Series I'm joined by Australia's Ambassador to Croatia, Sue Cox. Sue, thank you for your time today. I'm delighted to be here. We opened the Australian Consular in 1992 and then established the Embassy in 1999. How has Australia's relationship with Croatia evolved since then? It's been a very interesting time. In 1992 we actually recognised the Republic of Croatia after it broken away and declared independence from Yugoslavia. And that was quite interesting because we were the first country outside of the EU to do so. And it reflects the close ties that exist between Croatia and Australia. We've since then followed an interesting track, we've supported them in the UN and more recently in the last 10 years we've supported their efforts towards joining the EU which I'm glad to say that they joined in July 2013. And that's something that's very important to us because basically having a country like Croatia with a strong connection to Australia primarily through the Croatians who came here and settled here is good for our foreign policy goals in the EU. At the heart of our bilateral relationship are the personal links built by the large Croatian community. What is it about those bonds do you think that makes our relationship so unique? I think Croatian Australians are unique. And of course I can say that because I am the Australian Ambassador to Croatia so I've got a personal interest in this. But since I arrived in Croatia it may surprise you to know that there are about 5,000 Australian Croatians living there. And while some have gone to retire, others have gone because they want to build the links between Australia and Croatia. They chose to go after the war to help their other country of nationality and it's interesting also within Australia that you find Croatians across the entire community. For example, Mila Jedna, the new Socceroos captain is Croatian-Australian as also was Mark Vduka who was a Croatian soccer player. But it's not only soccer. Matthew Pavlich, who is a well-known AFL player, is also a Croatian-Australian. And it's also not limited to sport, although I must admit I seem to run into more Croatians in sport than anything else. But for example, Eric Banner, the Hollywood actor, we claim him but Croatia has a right to claim him too because he's also Croatian-Australian. So we have these interesting people, interesting characters. We from time to time they visit and from time to time through our cultural relations program we work on promoting those linkages. And in fact this year, 2014, I hosted Australia Day in Split which is one of the coastal communities where many of the Australian Croatians originally migrated. And they've been migrating since the 19th century too so it's been a very long history of migration. How do you see our bilateral relationship growing and what are the best prospects for expansion? I mentioned previously that Croatia has now joined the EU so although it's a relatively small country of only 4.2 million people it's actually now access to a market of over 500 million through the EU membership. So now with our new economic diplomacy strategies I'm very hopeful that with EU membership it will bring certainty for businesses in Australia in dealing with Croatia. In the past there were sometimes uncertainties it was a small market and now EU brings certainty. It brings a better sort of legal and regulatory framework through which investors and business people can deal and I'm very much looking forward to pursuing that. What would you like to have achieved by the time your term as head of mission comes to an end? I think like all heads of mission we want to do things to improve relations between our country, Australia and the country in which we serve in this case Croatia. For me it's great because I see a lot of positives. I mentioned previously that there's business. Croatia is opening up its oil and gas sector so in fact I'll be going to Perth and I'll be talking to some businesses in Perth that have got an interest in perhaps bidding for some of the concessions that will come online and it's, I hope, to see the commercial relationship grow between Australia and Croatia. What's it like living and working in Croatia and what advice would you have for Australians who may be tempted to visit? Croatia is absolutely beautiful. I live in Zagreb and Zagreb has a lot in common with Canberra. It's about four hours from the coast and being an inland city it's interesting and it's full of history because it's the capital and I enjoy working there. It's a city of about a million people. It's absolutely beautiful walking the streets of medieval towns and the food and doing work with them is fantastic. As I said, we have quite a large diaspora in Croatia and it's fun doing the cultural events that we do out and about. We have things like Australia Days in the zoo and all my staff go to the zoo and we do all sorts of things around Australia but it worries me sometimes when most people seem to know more about our deadly and dangerous creatures than they do about other aspects of Australia. I know that it's becoming increasingly popular amongst tourists. For example, 10 years ago there were about 10,000 Australians visited. Last year 106,000 visited and I do have some advice for them. Croatia is beautiful and it's full of very interesting things to do but do beware if you are not into cliff jumping or climbing cliffs or doing things. Just remember sometimes that your insurance doesn't always cover you if you engage in risky activities. So with that piece of advice I'd like to say come and enjoy and see everything that Croatia has to offer. Just like Australia, it's got a beach culture but always beware. Ambassador, thank you for your time today. Thank you very much. Gemma, thank you. And that was Australia's Ambassador to Croatia, Sue Cox, for our Ambassador Series.