External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday, September 3,2021, said that India and Croatia shared a lot of common positions on issues like the Indo-Pacific, situation in Afghanistan and the two countries' resolve to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Mr. Jaishankar was speaking at a joint press conference along with his Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlic Radman here.
"On international issues we shared a lot of common positions and perspectives. It was very apparent in our discussions on Indo-Pacific, on Afghanistan, on our resolve how to counter terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," he said.
Stressing on increasing economic cooperation between the two countries, Mr. Jaishankar said that there are a lot of opportunities in pharmaceuticals, digital and infrastructure sectors.
"We believe that Indian companies will find Croatia a very good platform to operate and invest," he said.
Mr. Jaishankar said "there are already companies from Croatia operating in India and some of them have secured some important contracts like in the railway sector. We would certainly welcome more active efforts to cooperate in the defence sector." "Tourism is another very important area and we were talking about expanding air connectivity between the two countries," he said.
Earlier during their meeting, the two leaders discussed several topics of mutual interest, including EU-India relations, situation in Afghanistan, economic and cultural cooperation and post-COVID recovery.
"I very much value the perspectives that I heard from the Croatian side about the EU, about the further prospects of the EU, about your own region. I think it is very helpful for us to get a better understanding of what is happening," he said at the press meet.
Mr. Jaishankar was received by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. He arrived here after completing his two-day visit to Slovenia, during which he held bilateral meetings with his Slovenian counterpart Anze Logar, apart from calling on the country's top leadership.
During his meeting with Mr. Plenković, Mr. Jaishankar discussed opportunities to further expand bilateral cooperation, including in pharma, digital and infrastructure
Published - September 04, 2021 01:43 am IST