(Hina) - Croatia's Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić on Wednesday held talks with her Kazakh counterpart Erlan Idrissov on how to improve bilateral economic ties and on plans of Croatia to open its embassy in Astana with the aim of facilitating bilateral economic cooperation.
"We want to facilitate business cooperation in the future and we have talked about the opening of the Croatian embassy in Astana in 2015 and about the appointment of honorary consuls and on bilateral cooperation," Pusić said after her meeting with Idrissov in the Kazakh capital.
Kazakhstan's plan to appoint its resident ambassador to Croatia and Croatia's plan to open its diplomatic mission in Astana in 2015 proved the two countries' intention to reinforce their bilateral ties, the Croatian minister said.
During her stay in Astana, Pusić also held talks on preparations for the visit of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Croatia in 2015.
The main topic of our talks has been the deepening of cooperation and I believe that today's meeting will be a quality preparation for the visit of our president to Croatia next year, Idrissov said.
The other topics discussed included possibilities for Kazakh companies to invest in Croatia and enabling Croatian companies to do business in Kazakhstan.
Opportunities for bilateral cooperation are seen in transport infrastructure, construction, shipbuilding, energy, pharmaceutical sector and tourism.
In 2013, the trade between the two countries totalled EUR 300 million, with the lion's share of it referring to Croatia's import of energy products.
During her working visit in Astana, Pusić also met Prime Minister Karim Massimov.
The first stop of Pusić's Central Asia tour was Turkmenistan and after Kazakhstan she travels to Azerbaijan. Pusić is accompanied by the head of the Islamic community in Croatia, Mufti Aziz Hasanović, who is known for his concept of regulating relations between the state and religious communities and for fostering inter-religious dialogue with a view to promoting peace and stability.