Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman met on Friday in Athens with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias during a working visit to the country.
The two ministers underscored satisfaction with excellent bilateral relations, agreeing that there was room for advancing economic cooperation. Grlić Radman thanked Greece for supporting Croatia’s accession to MED7, OECD, Eurozone and the Schengen Area.
Grlić Radman and Dendias also discussed the situation in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. They underlined the importance of continuing EU enlargement in Southeast Europe and of Brussels having a consistent policy so that candidates do not lose the European perspective. “I reflected on the importance of peace and stability, citing Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is having a hard time managing the migrant crisis alone. I also underlined Croatia’s solidarity with Greece, which is also on the front line of that big political, security and economic challenge, and is investing significant efforts to protect the EU border,” Grlić Radman said.
The minister also thanked his Greek counterpart for Greece’s humanitarian aid to Croatia after last year’s devastating earthquakes. “Greece itself was recently hit by strong earthquakes and I'm conveying our support and willingness to help. We fully understand the magnitude of that challenge,” he added.
Dendias congratulated Croatia on chairing the Council of the EU the previous year, stressing that Greece and Croatia had excellent cooperation within the EU. He recalled Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s visit to the Greek-Turkish border in March 2020 together with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and heads of EU institutions.
In addition, the two ministers discussed economic cooperation. “Our trade is constantly growing, opening up possibilities of additional investment. Croatian and Greek companies have a great potential for cooperating in areas such as energy, transport, tourism, infrastructure and military electroindustry,” Grlić Radman said.
Conclusively, the minister underscored that Croatia and Greece had excellent relations, with great potential in numerous areas, and that today’s meeting in Athens indicated additional strengthening of dialogue and cooperation.