Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis met in Zagreb on Thursday, calling for defusing tensions surrounding the crisis in Ukraine and supporting the international community's diplomatic efforts.

“We advocate de-escalation of the tensions between Ukraine and Russia and between Russia and the West,” Plenkovic said at a joint news conference.

Mitsotakis, who paid his second visit to Zagreb in the last two and half years, added that their joint position was in favor of defusing the tensions.

The two PMs discussed economic, energy and defense cooperation.

“We are glad that both Greece and Croatia will be among the fastest growing economies in 2021,” said Plenkovic. He expected Croatia’s growth to exceed 10% and said that Greece’s growth would be close to that.

The European Commission released its Winter Economic Forecast on Thursday, saying that the Croatian economy, with the growth rate of 10.5% in 2021, achieved a full V-shaped recovery, surpassing the level registered prior to the 2019 crisis. The only other EU member state with faster growth is Ireland, with a rate of 13.7%.

Plenkovic and Mitsotakis exchanged their experiences concerning the efforts to cushion the blow to living standards caused by rising prices of gas, electricity and petroleum products.

The Greek PM said that the two countries, now the forerunners in economic growth, could fight against the growing energy prices.

The trade between the two Mediterranean countries reached €360 million in the first ten months of 2021, which was more than in the whole of 2020, but less than in 2019, said Plenkovic.

Mitsotakis said he hoped both countries would have an excellent tourist season this year.

Plenkovic thanked Mitsotakis for Greece’s strong support to Zagreb’s aspirations to join the Schengen area, the euro area and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

In 2021, Croatia joined the EUMed9 association, which should further strengthen the cooperation between Zagreb and Athens.

Plenkovic hailed the Greek resolute policy against irregular migrations, and the Greek PM said that alongside the protection of the border, it was also important to protect people’s lives.

Both Greece and Croatia have purchased French Rafale fighter jets as part of efforts to modernize their defence systems, and Mitsotakis added that the two countries could additionally boost their cooperation in the defence area.

Plenkovic and Mitsotakis discussed developments in southeast Europe, particularly the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Plenkovic reiterated that Croatia advocated the limited amending of the Bosnian constitution and electoral legislation to ensure that Croats are on an equal footing with the other two constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mitsotakis supported the European future of the Balkans.

He thanked Croatia for having sent firefighting planes to his country to help put out wildfires last summer.

Plenkovic thanked Greece for its aid in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes that hit Croatia in 2020.