The head of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Zlatko Komadina, on Thursday met with a delegation of the China International Chamber of Commerce for the Private Sector (CICCPS) and the Huzhou Mingshuo Optoelectronic Technology company, who were informed of cooperation possibilities in the city of Rijeka and the rest of the county.

The Chinese delegation expressed interest in cooperation in developing new technologies and smart cities and were shown local potential in that regard, including enterprise zones and the possibility for Chinese partners to position themselves in the region as the door to Europe, said Komadina.

He recalled that the county had been cooperating with the Chinese province of Liaoning for years.

A representative of the Chinese delegation, Feng Weidong, said that the delegation was investigating the possibility of making Rijeka a basis for expansion to the European market.

“Our transformation into a smart region is the right way to make both the region and its cities interesting to partners, in this case Chinese partners,” said the head of the county development agency, Vedran Kruzic.

The CICCPS, approved by the State Council and Ministry of Civil Affairs, brings together around five million business people and it has been working on helping establish cooperation between Croatian and Chinese entrepreneurs.

Huzhou Mingshuo Optoelectronic Technology, based in Beijing, provides high-power LED-lighting equipment and integrated lighting solutions and it has shown interest in improving public lighting in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, county officials have said.