Jia Qinglin, head of China's top political advisory body has hailed the comprehensive cooperation partnership between China and Croatia.

He said that the bilateral relations have reached their prime phase since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Croatia 16 years ago.

CRI Reporter Chen Xi has the details.

China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin has called for new measures to boost economic cooperation with Croatia, with increasing mutual needs and convergence of common interests.

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the appeal while addressing a business forum of over 200 Chinese and Croatian entrepreneurs in Zagreb.

"China and Croatia could develop the cooperation of mutual benefits in a number of areas, such as telecommunications, medicine and machinery production. We should also enlarge the proportion of hi-tech productions in bilateral trade. We welcome that more high-quality Croatian products would be introduced to China."

Jia Qinglin said that China and Croatia have a solid foundation and broad prospects for expanding trade and economic cooperation after the two countries established a comprehensive cooperation partnership in 2005.

He put forward a three-way approach to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation, which constitute an important part of the China-Croatia cooperation partnership.

Jia Qinglin said the governments of the two countries should play an active role in strengthening contact between their enterprises and boosting exchanges of information on markets, commodities and trade in a bid to explore cooperative potentials and expand trade.

Nadan Vidosevic, chairman of Croatian Chamber of Economy, echoed Jia Qinglin by saying that he is most confident about the bilateral economic cooperation.

"I think it is a great opportunity for Chinese entrepreneurs to get a clear picture of Croatian economic of wide ranges. I hope you would acknowledge that Croatia is the best location for expanding trade and investment in the middle and Eastern Europe."

In addition, Jia Qinglin also noted his appreciation to Croatian leaders for their expression of sympathy to China over the devastating earthquakes that struck Sichuan province.

Croatia is the last leg of Jia's four-European nation trip, which has already taken him to Romania, Hungary and Slovenia.

Chen Xi, CRI News