Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic arrived on Monday on a two-day working visit in Germany where he will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, and, speaking at a Croatian Embassy in Berlin, he announced a plan for improving economic relations between Germany and Croatia.

“Tomorrow we will put forward a 10-point action plan which our two Foreign Ministries have been preparing for a long time, so that we could form topics as a cooperation framework which will further improve our relations with Germany, which is already one of Croatia’s biggest investors. This is intended to be a sort of a sketch of our relations with Germany,” Plenkovic said.

He also announced a discussion on the situation in Southeast Europe as well as the topic of migrations which he said was very important for Germany.

“We will discuss our relations with our neighbours and the role Germany plays, especially regarding the Berlin Process which contributes to the dynamic of economic cooperation in Southeast Europe,” he said.

Berlin Process, established in 2014, is a diplomatic effort aimed at improving economic relations between the Western Balkans and the EU.

Another topic will be Croatia’s efforts to join the Schengen area as part of further integration within European Union.

Croatia is legally bound to join the area by the terms of its EU accession treaty, and it got access to the Schengen Information System in 2017.

“We continue to fulfil technical criteria so that a political decision on the topic can ultimately be reached,” he said.

He added that his meeting with the Chancellor, arranged in July, will serve as preparation for an important election year in Europe. German government is extremely important in that context, he said, as a “factor of stability” in Europe.

Plenkovic thanked diaspora representatives on their contribution in improving German-Croatian relations, adding that Croats in Germany were an important link between the two countries, contributing to improving economic relations, as well as creating a positive image of Croatia in Germany.

The number of Croatian nationals living in Germany reached 367,900 at the end of 2017, with most of them (109,500) settled in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

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