PM Plenkovic with the EU Commissioner Malmström

The European Union Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmstroem, said during her talks with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic in Zagreb on Tuesday that the European Commission supported Croatia's membership bid for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is nearly the only remaining international association which Croatia has not yet joined.

Prime Minister Plenkovic and Commissioner Malmström discussed the European Union's trade policy and the reform of the European trade defence instruments.

Plenkovic informed the EU Commissioner that Croatia's goal was to become a full member of the OECD, as Zagreb finds that membership beneficial for the country's development and reform implementation.

This January, the Plenkovic cabinet sent a letter of intent for Croatia's admission to the OECD.

The mission of the 35-strong OECD is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

Malmström said that the EC supported Croatia's OECD membership bid.

Plenkovic said that until this summer Croatia would ratify the CETA trade and economic agreement between the EU and Canada and added that the EU trade policy contributed to economic growth.

Although the future of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a proposed trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, is currently uncertain, it is important to step up negotiations with the South American countries -- Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela -- included in Mercosur, as well as with Mexico, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and to open negotiations on modernising the customs union with Turkey and negotiations with Australia and New Zealand and Chile, said Malmström.

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