On the afternoon of October 15, 2015, Premier Li Keqiang met at the Great Hall of the People with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of Croatia who was on a state visit to China.

Li Keqiang expressed that China and Croatia enjoy profound traditional friendship. Yesterday, President Xi Jinping had fruitful talks with you. China is willing to work together with Croatia to uphold mutual respect and equal treatment and consolidate political mutual trust so as to promote continuous expansion of practical cooperation in all sectors.

Li Keqiang pointed out that this year is crucial for cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). The development and expansion of such cooperation has established a reinforced platform for both China and Croatia to deepen practical cooperation. China welcomes Croatia to actively participate in the 4th meeting of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European Countries to be held in China this year. China is willing to work with Croatia to carry out international production capacity cooperation, promote cooperation in railways, ports and other infrastructure and make good use of such financing tools as special-purpose loans and funds of China-CEEC cooperation so as to ensure the smooth implementation of cooperation.

Li Keqiang emphasized that the China-CEEC cooperation and China-EU cooperation are supplementary to each other. He hoped that Croatia will, as an EU member, continue to play a positive role thus inject more impetus to the continuous, healthy and stable development of China-EU relations.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic stated that over the past decade since Croatia and China established the comprehensive cooperative partnership, the two sides have had smooth exchanges and cooperation in all fields. Croatia has always supported and actively participated in the CEEC-China cooperation and backed the development of EU-China relations and is willing to continue to serve as a gateway for Chinese enterprises to enter the European market and a reliable cooperative partner of China in the EU. Croatia welcomes Chinese enterprises to increase investment in Croatia and carry out connectivity construction and innovation cooperation and is willing to provide convenience in this regard.