ZAGREB: Virtual meeting between Minister of State, Ministry of External Affairs and Mr. Frano Matusic, State Secretary for Political Affairs, Croatia

ZAGREB: Minister of State for External Affairs H.E.
Shri V. Muraleedharan and his counterpart Mr. Frano Matušić, State Secretary
for Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Republic of
Croatia, held a meeting through virtual conference on 22 December, 2020. The
meeting set a broad-based agenda for mutual cooperation in the year 2021 which
would provide substance for celebrations of three decades of establishment of
diplomatic relationship between the two countries in 2022.

The State Secretary of Croatia and the Minister of State of India exchanged
views and ideas for cooperation in the area of healthcare, especially in the
context of ongoing pandemic and similar challenges that the world would face in
the coming years. Given the existing excellent cooperation between the two
sides in the area of pharmaceutical industry and healthcare related research
and development, the Ministers discussed the scope for further enhancement of
cooperation in this mutually beneficial area.

Another area of cooperation that this pandemic has brought into focus is the
importance of digital technologies on which the State Secretary of Croatia and
the Minister of State of India discussed the need for developing a
multi-layered digital partnership between the two countries with emphasis on
corporate partnership, start-ups engagement, cyber R&D, talent and skilled
human resources cooperation, cyber security and cyber infrastructure. They
welcomed the initial events in the area of start-ups engagements of two sides which
were organized in the month of December 2020.

While recognizing the strong cultural cooperation, both sides underscored the
importance of stronger engagement in cultural area in the year 2021-2022 in the
context of 30 years of establishment of diplomatic relations. In this regard,
the State Secretary of Croatia and the Minister of State of India discussed the
possibility of exchange of cultural troupes, cooperation in the area of fine
arts, archaeology as well as establishment of ICCR sponsored short-term chairs
in Croatian Universities.

In the area of science, technology and innovation, two sides highlighted the
importance of providing opportunities to the youths of the two countries to
connect for joint research, co-creation and co-development. They appreciated
the recent initiatives of connecting University of Zagreb, Ruđer Bošković
Institute and Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences with Indian Department
of Biotechnology.

Tourism being important part of both B2B and P2P engagements, both sides
recognized the need for tourism promotion activities despite the negative turn
that this industry has faced due to the pandemic. The film industry as a means
for enhancing awareness of each others tourism sites was highlighted as an
important area of intervention and cooperation.

MOS highlighted the opportunities for Croatian companies in infrastructure
projects in India. In this context, opportunities in railways, shipbuilding,
environment friendly technologies, agriculture, food processing and fisheries
were underscored.

The State Secretary of Croatia and the Minister of State of India exchanged
views on developments in the Indo-Pacific region. They reiterated their
commitment to an open, free and stable Indo-Pacific region, which accounts for
64% of world’s population with direct consequence for world peace and
prosperity. India welcomed Croatia’s active participation in the making of the
European Union Strategy for Indo-Pacific region with focus on preserving supply
chain networks.

India’s two years non-permanent membership of the UNSC starting from January
2021 and Croatia’s strong active role in the European Union were recognized as
important platforms for mutual cooperation to pursue common and convergent
agendas on issues of global importance such as climate change, counter
terrorism, global healthcare issues and multilateral norms making for global
commons such as cyberspace, maritime domain and outer-space.