Understanding and cooperation have shaped the friendly relations between Turkey and Croatia over the last 30 years, said Turkish Ambassador to Zagreb, Mustafa Babür Hızlan, stressing that this approach has helped businesses and bilateral relations trade to bloom.
The bilateral trade volume between the countries has continued to grow, “except for 2020, when the pandemic was felt,” Hızlan told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday.
The ambassador said that the trade the volume has reached 890 millions dollars at the end of 2021.
Share a rooting common historyTurkish-Croatian relations entered into a new when Croatia got son independence former Yugoslavia, Hızlan said, adding that Turkey was one of the first countries recognize the independence of Croatia when it officially recognized it on February 6, 1992.
“Today, Croatia is an important country where we have excellent political relations at the bilateral level and as NATO allies we continue our cooperation. in strengthen regional peace and stability,” he said, adding that the countries also collaborate on regional platforms like the South East Europe Cooperation Process and a Trilateral Consultative Mechanism with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Turkish investors
The presence of Turkish investors in Croatia is also increasing, Hızlan said, noting that today about 45 Turkish companies are active in the Balkan country.
“There are significant Turkish investments in tourism, construction, infrastructure, banking and renewable energy sectors,” he said.
Croatia first geothermal power plant, Velika Ciglena, has been built by a Turkish company and is one of the examples of these investments, said the Turkish diplomat.
Hizlan added that a Turkish company was also wearing out renewal of the Krizevci-Koprivnica-Botovo railway line, which is the most expensive infrastructure project in Croatia to date, and construction of a second line.
Consul General of Croatia in Istanbul Ivana Zerec also commented on the countries’ ties while marking the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations, emphasizing that political, economic and diplomatic relations have been in a very good place for the past 30 years.
Zerec also drew attention to the strong cooperation between Turkey and Croatia in multilateral forums such as NATO, the European Union and the United Nations.
Recalling the words of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on bilateral billion dollars trade target during his visit to Zagreb in 2016, she said the potential for economic cooperation is quite high.
“There are Turkish investments in Croatia in different areas such as energy, hospitality, banking, finance, tourism, and we hope it will be even better in the futuresaid the Croatian diplomat.
