Croatian, Chinese PMs talk tourism, seaports, infrastructure as possible cooperation areas

Cooperation in tourism, the use of Croatian seaports for Chinese exports, and investing in infrastructure were the key topics of a meeting between Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Chinese PM Li Keqiang in Budapest on Monday on the fringes of the sixth summit of 16 Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC) countries and China.

Croatia is recording a big rise in the number of Chinese tourists, this year by 60% in relation to 2016, and hopes the 2018 increase from 2016 will be 100%, Plenkovic told reporters after the meeting, adding that this was why he was accompanied by Croatian Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli.

"We also talked about infrastructure and about investments, notably in the infrastructure of seaports. Croatia is interested in Rijeka, Split, Zadar and Ploce being those European ports to which Chinese exports will gravitate, as well as in investments in the Rijeka infrastructure, on which we have been working continuously," Plenkovic said.

Cooperation in the area of small and medium enterprises is another Croatian priority, he added. "We want a centre which would be organised by our economy ministry to be a kind of pool of activity for this initiative."

Plenkovic also said the cooperation of the 16 CEEC countries and China should not worry Brussels.

Text: Hina

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