His Excellency Dr. Damir Kusen, Croatian ambassador to New Zealand, is ending his mandate to New Zealand this weekend.
The Canberra based diplomat's last official engagement will be in Auckland on the 9th of June to celebrate Croatia's
National day and the 160th anniversary of the arrival of Croatians in New Zealand.
Dr. Kusen has been a fantastic champion of cultural exchanges between Croatia and New Zealand. In 2015, a 50 strong tour
of Croatia including Auckland Maori, Samoan and Croatian performers delighted Croatian audiences on a two-week tour.
He was also responsible for organising high level political exchanges with the Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic
visiting New Zealand in 2014 and President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic in 2017 while several New Zealand politicians
visited Croatia.
The Croatian community will farewell Dr. Kusen who is highly respected especially for greatly improving the consular
services in New Zealand. A modern consular service from Canberra with Honorary consuls in Auckland and Nelson have
improved passport and document services.
The function at the Croatian Cultural Society on Saturday the 9th of June will be attended by many prominent Croatians
and senior politicians including Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Hon. Shane Jones and Hon. Paula Bennett