(Hina) - Great Britain will leave the European Union but will not abandon Europe, and it wishes to advance bilateral relations and partnership with Croatia, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in Zagreb on Wednesday after talks with Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Ivo Stier.
The two ministers talked about Brexit, bilateral relations, Croatian citizens' rights after Great Britain leaves the EU, and security and the situation in Southeast Europe.
We may be leaving the EU treaty but we are not abandoning Europe. We remain strongly committed to it, Johnson said, recalling Britain's important role in European stability. He was visiting Croatia as part of a diplomatic initiative and a European tour after the Brexit referendum.
We are committed to Europe and we are committed to Croatia. We are absolutely committed to our bilateral relations. Another thing we agreed on is that we share a Euro-Atlantic vision for Europe, for Britain and for Croatia. We share the same ambitions regarding NATO and the fundamental security architecture of Europe which has guaranteed peace to our continent for the past 70 years, Johnson told reporters.
He congratulated Stier on his appointment as foreign minister, saying he was looking forward to tight cooperation in the weeks and months ahead.
The upcoming British-EU Brexit negotiations will address free movement of people, among other things. Britain is one of the few countries not to have lifted restrictions on the hiring of Croatian citizens, extending them last year for another three years.
We will first wait for the United Kingdom to activate Article 50, but we wish to have a constructive approach to those negotiations. Naturally, we will protect the interests of Croatia and Croatian citizens so that they have the same status as all other EU citizens, Stier told reporters.
Croatia and Britain are allies in NATO and wish to continue to build and intensify bilateral relations on that front too, he said, adding that Croatian Defence Minister Damir Krstičević would sign in London early next year a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in defence with the British side.
As for countries in Southeast Europe, the two ministers agreed that they must take the Euro-Atlantic path. We will work together on stability, on the Euro-Atlantic path of all of Southeast Europe, notably Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Stier.
Speaking of Croatian-British economic cooperation, he said Johnson and he agreed that there was plenty of room to advance it. Both mentioned the 22% jump in the number of British tourists who visited Croatia over the past year.
We wish to advance trade relations and partnership. I would like stronger, more active trade relations. I think we have big possibilities in the financial and technological sectors, said Johnson, who also recalled his visit to the southern Adriatic island of Brač and good Croatian wines.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday received British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson, for talks on bilateral relations, underscoring that Croatia wanted to develop strong relations with the United Kingdom, notably in the business and tourism sectors. Jonson's arrival in Zagreb ensued a month after President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović paid an official visit to London.