Croatia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić opened the Croatian embassy and a business forum in Baku, her ministry said in a statement.
The minister met with her host Elmar Mammadyarov and the two officials discussed current global and regional topics and cooperation in multilateral organisations, energy security, Brexit and preparations for Croatia’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The embassy opened by Minister Pejčinović Burić is certain to contribute to the further strengthening of the two countries’ relations, which are good and friendly, it was said.
Croatia supports Azerbaijan’s negotiations with the EU aimed at concluding a comprehensive bilateral agreement on cooperation and strengthening of cooperation within the Eastern Partnership.
Minister Pejčinović Burić also met with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Novruz Mammadov.
They discussed ways to strengthen economic cooperation ahead of the second meeting of the joint commission for economic cooperation, as part of which a business forum would be held.
Pejčinović Burić also opened an Azerbaijani-Croatian business forum, which was organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and AzPromo and which brought together more than 80 business people. Azerbaijan is rich in oil and gas reserves and has significant agricultural potential.
Attending the business forum were the companies Atir, Enigma Aviation Travel, GEO-TEO, IND-EKO, Končar, Podravka, Tehno Filter, Potestas, Telecor and Velox.
Trade between Croatia and Azerbaijan in 2018 amounted to 407 million dollars, an increase of 62% from 2017.
Croatian exports in 2018 totalled 980,000 dolars, an increase of 25%, while imports amounted to 406 million dollars, an increase of 62%.
Even though the increase is significant, trade is still far below the actual potential, the HGK vice-president for industry and energy, Tomislav Radoš, said. “Forums held so far show that business people are interested in closer cooperation in many areas, from the chemical industry to energy and agriculture, IT sector and infrastructure,” he said at the forum.