Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic met with her Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella in Quirinal Palace in Rome on Tuesday, where they discussed bilateral relations, further cooperation and traffic connections between the two countries.

Grabar-Kitarovic, on an official two-day visit to Italy, said the relations between Croatia and Italy were excellent, without any outstanding issues. There is always room for further cooperation, she said, adding that Italy was Croatia’s second largest trading partner, third in investments in Croatia, and fourth in tourist visits.

“We want to further improve all these points and we talked about many other areas where cooperation is possible, from IT technology to infrastructure, construction, agriculture, food and textile industry, and so on,” said Grabar-Kitarovic.

Cooperation in the traffic system, in connecting the Adriatic ports, carries enormous potential, she said.

“There is an informal association of Adriatic ports. I see enormous potential, with the Slovenian seaport Koper, in traffic through the Suez Canal, compared to the ports in northern Atlantic. I think we could profit a lot in that area,” she said and added that the emphasis must be on passenger and cargo transport.

Both countries want to open new ferry routes. She said new catamaran, or hydrofoil, lines to Croatia are expected to be established by the end of the month. This, she said, would result in even bigger increase in tourists coming to Croatia.

They also discussed ethnic minorities, the Croatian president said. She is scheduled to visit the ethnic Croat community in the Italian Molise region in the south of Italy. This year marks 500 years of Croats settling in Italy.

“We welcome all the recent efforts by Italy to recognise the Croatian minority according to their constitution and laws, not just in Molise, but in other regions where they live as well,” she said.

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