Croatia's foreign minister Gordan Grlić Radman touched down in Phnom Penh on 19-20 October 2026 for the first official visit to Cambodia by a Croatian foreign minister — timed to the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The two-day trip covered a lot of ground. In talks with Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, the focus was on expanding cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, connectivity and demining. Grlić Radman also met King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Manet, Senate President Hun Sen and National Assembly President Khuon Sudary, and sat down with Croatians living and working in Cambodia.

One of the more interesting threads was demining. Croatia finished clearing its own landmines in March 2026, closing out decades of work on the legacy of the 1991-1995 Homeland War. Now it's exporting that knowledge — to Cambodia and to Ukraine — and the visit included a Croatian-Cambodian dialogue on innovation in mine clearance. Both countries know post-conflict reconstruction from the inside, and officials on both sides suggested smaller nations have plenty to gain from cooperating on equal footing.

The trip also had a historical dimension. Grlić Radman visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the UN-backed tribunal that prosecuted Khmer Rouge crimes, condemning totalitarian atrocities and stressing justice for victims. He pointed to Croatia's own experience, including the peaceful reintegration of the Danube region under the UN transition administration in Eastern Slavonia in the 1990s.

Why does this matter to travellers? Tourism was explicitly on the agenda, and the visit signals Croatia's wider pivot towards Asia. Direct people-to-people links between the two countries remain thin, but as cooperation on connectivity and investment grows, expect more momentum between Central Europe and Southeast Asia — two regions Croatians and Cambodians alike are only beginning to explore in each other's direction. For now, the practical takeaway is simple: both countries reward curiosity, and their shared history of recovery gives a visit to either one unexpected depth.

Reported by Croatia Week.