During the meeting, that took place in the premises of the City of Rijeka, the hosts and the guests talked about successful long-term cooperation between Croatia and China, as this year we mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

For many years, the City of Rijeka has been developing successful cooperation with the Chinese friendship cities of Dalian, Ningbo and Qingdan, and according to Mayor Filipović, ever-growing opportunities are present in Rijeka for doing business with Chinese companies.

Inaugural visit of the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Croatia, H.E. Qianjin Qia

“In respect of the project “Construction of wastewater treatment plant in Rijeka” at the end of 2021, we signed the contract with the China Energy Construction Group Jiangsu Power Design Institute, a well renowned Chinese industrial design company that will implement the project in partnership with SUMEC. Cooperation on this very important project for Rijeka is a confirmation of good cooperation between Rijeka and China, which, I believe, will continue to develop in the future”, said the mayor. He presented to the Ambassador some of the ongoing important infrastructure projects implemented by both public and private investors, such as the construction of road and railway infrastructure in the context of connecting Rijeka to the European transport corridor and the planned construction of the marina. Filipović presented to the guest the tourist potentials of Rijeka and the project of the art quarter Benčić, the biggest investment in culture since Croatian independence.

The importance of the road corridor was emphasised by the president Zlatko Komadina, who said that he would be very happy if China, the world’s fastest growing economy and the world’s largest exporter, would use the corridor for the flow of its goods and services towards Europe.

“Rijeka is the main Croatian port, in the territory of the county we have an oil refinery, an LNG terminal, JANAF pipeline, a developed wood-processing industry and port activities of all types. After the construction of the new terminal, we expect an increase in turnover, and we also hope that we would cooperate with new Chinese companies,” said Komadina.

the hosts and the guests talked about possibilities of further cooperation

The importance of the port of Rijeka and the refinery in the business operations of the two countries was also emphasised by the Chinese Ambassador Qi, who added that Chinese companies were generally interested in doing business in Rijeka and in the territory of the entire county.

“Over the span of 30 years of the development of diplomatic relations, I believe that our two countries gained much mutual trust. Despite a big difference in size and population, China sees Croatia as an equal partner and Chinese companies are interested in doing business in this area. As the mayor already mentioned, the Chinese company was awarded the job to construct a wastewater treatment plant in Rijeka, which makes me very happy and I hope that in the future there will be more opportunities for cooperation like this, as well as those in the field of economy and trade”, said the Ambassador.