Xi, Croatian president exchange congratulations on 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, on Friday exchanged congratulatory messages on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In his message, Xi pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic ties 30 years ago, China and Croatia have always respected each other and treated each other as equals, adding that bilateral relations have withstood the test of international vicissitudes.

Thanks to the concerted efforts of both sides, China and Croatia have enjoyed solid political mutual trust and achieved positive results in their cooperation in jointly building the Belt and Road, bringing benefits to the people of the two countries, he said.

In the face of the challenges caused by COVID-19, China and Croatia have joined hands to fight the pandemic and written a new story of bilateral friendship, Xi added.

Noting that he attaches great importance to the development of the bilateral ties, Xi said he is ready to work with President Milanovic to take the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to consolidate political mutual trust between the two countries, strengthen the alignment of development strategies, and jointly pilot bilateral relations for greater development, so as to benefit the two countries and their people.

Milanovic said that since Croatia and China established diplomatic relations, mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in various fields has achieved remarkable results.

He added that he believed that both sides will continue to work together to deepen partnership, expand cooperation areas and push the relations between the two countries to constantly achieve new results.

Also on Friday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic exchanged congratulatory messages.

Li, in his message, said practical cooperation between China and Croatia has achieved fruitful progress, and such mutually beneficial projects as the Peljesac Bridge and the Senj Wind Farm have set fine examples for cooperation between China and Croatia, as well as between China and Europe.

The Chinese side stands ready to strengthen communication and exchanges, consolidate traditional friendship and expand practical cooperation with Croatia, so as to continuously deepen and substantiate the two countries' relations, said Li.

Plenkovic said Croatia-China relations have seen deep-going development over the past 30 years, adding that Croatia will play a bigger role in pushing for continuous new achievements in bilateral ties and bringing benefits to the people of the two countries as well as to future generations.