Minister Pusić to visit central Asia next week to bolster economic cooperation

(Hina) - First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić will visit Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan next week to strengthen Croatia's economic cooperation with those countries

(Hina) - First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić will visit Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan next week to strengthen Croatia's economic cooperation with those countries.

Announcing the visits at a press conference on Friday, Pusić said Turkmenistan would draw up a draft agreement during the official visit expected to define cooperation in shipbuilding, road-building, energy, IT, and higher education and research, as well as a quarterly monitoring of project implementation in these areas.

Pusić recalled that Turkmenistan had commissioned two ships in Croatia's Uljanik shipyard and that new orders were possible if the client was satisfied. "They are interested in building a fleet."

One ship was completed at the end of September and is in the Baltic but has not been delivered because of low water level.

The Croatian government's decision to cancel visa requirements for diplomatic and special passports is expected to help the cooperation with Turkmenistan. "This is mutual, of course. It's a bilateral agreement and we expect to sign it there," Pusić.

She will pay a working visit to Kazakhstan in preparation for the Kazakh president's visit to Croatia next year. Pusić's visit will focus on economic cooperation. She said Kazakhstan was interested in cooperation in the energy sector, industry, and in investing in Croatia.

Kazakhstan has opened an embassy in Croatia and Croatia plans to open an embassy in Astana in 2015.

Pusić will pay an official visit to Azerbaijan, saying Croatia and Azerbaijan had intensive communication on energy.

She said a consortium that would bring Azeri gas to Europe had opted for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) from Azerbaijan to Albania and then across Italy.

"Our interest is to build from Albania a section of the pipeline along our Adriatic coast. On this we are cooperating with Montenegro, which is also interested, as well as with Albania and all the states included in the TAP. For Croatia, this means energy stability in the long term, which in today's circumstances is virtually identical to political stability."

Pusić will be accompanied on the visits by the head of the Islamic Community in Croatia, Mufti Aziz Hasanović. She said the interest in the inter-religious dialogue came from the hosts.

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