First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić received the outgoing ambassadors of Malaysia Dato' Yean Yoke Heng and Switzerland Denis Knobel.
“Croatia wants to strengthen cooperation with extra-European states as well, notably Asian countries which mark excellent economic results and harbour great cooperation potential,” said Pusić, adding that Croatia was working hard to improve the investment climate. The Malaysian ambassador underlined the importance of cutting the red tape for foreign investment.
Croatia and Malaysia expect their good cooperation to continue in the multilateral arena as well. Heng added that Malaysia was to preside over the ASEAN in 2015.
Pusić and Knobel expressed satisfaction with the very good bilateral relations, as well as with a successful resolution to the issue of discrimination against Croatian citizens following Switzerland’s February referendum on limiting the freedom of movement. Knobel informed Pusić about the current status of the Swiss-EU relations.
The stabilization of Southeast Europe is one of the priority topics of this year’s Swiss OSCE presidency, so talks also revolved around the Euro-integration prospects of the countries in the region, the situation in Ukraine and OSCE’s involvement in solving the crisis in the country.
Knobel confirmed that Switzerland was to participate in Croatia Forum for the first time this year, represented by State Secretary at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Yves Rossier.