A commemoration was held in Dubrovnik on Tuesday marking the 22nd anniversary of the death of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown and 34 other passengers in a plane crash on 3 April 1996 en route from Tuzla to Dubrovnik.

Attending the ceremony, Management Officer in the U.S. Embassy Matthew Garrett said the United States and Croatia have a long history of friendship and cooperation, and that the commemoration of the tragic event was a sign of strength of their ties.

Today, Ron Brown is a symbol of a strong relationship between the United States and Croatia in their joint effort to rebuild Croatia and the region after the war, Garrett said.

“Today, we commemorate the death of 35 people, including U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. We regret this great tragedy. Croatia and the U.S. always had excellent relations and we want those relations to be even better, starting with the two countries’ visa regime,” said Žaklina Marević, Dubrovnik-Neretva County Deputy Prefect.