Croatian PM arrives in Japan to boost cooperation

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday, being the first Croatian prime minister to officially visit Japan and his visit will focus on strengthening economic cooperation and attracting Japanese investments in Croatia.

The PM is expected to meet with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Wednesday as well as with Prince Naruhito and the president of the Japanese-Croatian parliamentary group of friendship Sadakazu Tanigaki.

"The talks with Japan's prime minister will be directed primarily to the possibilities of expanding economic cooperation and trade and to attracting Japanese investors to Croatia. Planned investments by the Marubeni company in Croatia's electricity power system has significantly increased interest in Croatia amongst Japanese multinational companies, where they see numerous comparative advantages. Companies interested in investing in Croatia include the car industry, chemicals, shipbuilding and electronics industries as well as companies involved in transport, medicine and insurance. Leading executives in these companies will attend the meeting with Prime Minister Milanovic," the government's spokesman Nikola Jelic said.

On the second day of his visit Milanovic is expected to meet with the heads of the Japanese Economic Federation and leading Japanese investors. Around thirty CEOs are expected to attend this meeting including Toshiba, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Shimazu, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, Japan Airlines, Japan Tobacco and Marubeni.

(Hina) sp

News