Croatia must use the EU-Africa summit as an opportunity to improve its economic ties with Africa, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told reporters ahead of the high-level meeting in Vienna on Tuesday which brought together European and African leaders.

The summit is held in the last month of Austria’s rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, before being succeeded by Romania in the first half of 2019.

Plenkovic added that this was a good opportunity to “present joint efforts made by African governments and the European Union aimed at strengthening and stabilising African countries in order to prevent crises and weak state institutions which would then help prevent migration inflows.”

The event was co-organised by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, who chairs the pan-continental African Union this year. Also attending were President of European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Speaker of European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, European Council President, Donald Tusk, and many other European and African senior officials.

Croatia must use this opportunity to promote trade ties with Africa, Plenkovic said, which are very modest at the moment, and which are mostly active in places where Croatia has embassies – in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and South Africa.

He said he hoped that the summit and the accompanying business forum would open new opportunities for Croatian businesses. The Croatian Chamber of Economy and several large Croatian companies also sent delegates to the summit.

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