Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has been elected vice president of the Centrist Democrat International (CDI), of which the European People's Party is a member, his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party said on Thursday.

The CDI brings together parties from five continents which share democratic, traditional, and universal-humanistic values and promote political, economic, social, and cultural cooperation, said the HDZ, which joined the CDI in 1995.

In a video link address, Plenkovic thanked his colleagues for the trust and said the challenges of today’s world, including the fight against COVID-19, climate change, migrations, poverty, and security, demanded stronger global unity and solidarity.

He added that Croatia has donated more than a million COVID-19 vaccine doses.

Plenkovic was nominated and elected at a meeting of the CDI Executive Committee in Brussels today.

The CDI has 14 vice presidents, including Prime Ministers Viktor Orban of Hungary and Janez Jansa of Slovenia. The president is former Colombian president Andres Pastrana Arango.