Dmitry Medvedev’s talks with President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic

Officials addressed current topics concerning Russian-Croatian trade as well as economic and investment cooperation.

Excerpt from the transcript:

Dmitry Medvedev: Madam President, colleagues,

I would like to cordially welcome you to Russia once again, this time to Moscow. Yesterday you spent the day in the warmth of the south, in Sochi, where you held talks with President Putin. And today you are in Moscow, where it is much cooler.

We are very happy to see you and very happy that we have an opportunity to discuss certain aspects of Russian-Croatian relations. Let me stress that you have a busy agenda. Apart from the visit to Sochi and the talks in Moscow, you will visit St Petersburg. This will give an impetus to our relations, which turned 25 years old in May, if we count from the establishment of diplomatic ties. However, we were saying just now that there is great demand for a regular and pragmatic dialogue on bilateral issues. We regretted the absence of such a dialogue. It is good that the intergovernmental commission has finally held talks in October. Before this, the commission had not met for seven years. This was, of course, a long break, and despite the fact that we had other contacts, this was not very good. We must reinvigorate our ties now to make all the mechanisms work.

We have already discussed several issues. Let me welcome you again and wish you a successful stay in the Russian Federation.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (via interpreter): < …> Yesterday I noted this was my first opportunity to visit Moscow in 11 years, since my last visit as Foreign Minister. Our President visited Moscow a little earlier and there has not been an official visit to Moscow by a Croatian President for many years.

During the recent years, our cooperation has been affected by the sanctions, which are still in effect. Nevertheless, they don’t affect the Russian investment. We note a certain increase in numbers. These figures could have been even higher, but after several years when the trade turnover was decreasing, we note growth this year. Croatian businesses, Croatian companies whose products and services are famous all over the world will take part in the economic forum in Russia. Today, at the forum, at the meeting that will take place between our business leaders, we will lay the foundations for our future cooperation.