Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic on Tuesday received British Ambassador Simon Thomas, who commended the Croatian COVID-19 crisis management team's rules for UK tourists entering Croatia - a vaccination certificate and a negative test result, the ministry said in a press release.

The two officials confirmed the two countries’ strong friendship and partnership as well as interest in further deepening bilateral cooperation.

Sharing experiences in dealing with the pandemic, they said cooperation on that front was important also due to the high interest among UK tourists to spend the summer in Croatia.

The two officials also considered the possibility of cooperation in exchanging information on app keys for vaccination certificates to facilitate UK citizens’ entry into Croatia.

Thomas commended Croatia for U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken’s announcement that it would be included in the Visa Waiver Program.

The new ambassador thanked the Croatian Interior Ministry for regulating the status of UK citizens after the Brexit withdrawal agreement went into force.

Bozinovic and Thomas said the defence sector and NATO membership provided a big opportunity to further strengthen the Croatia-UK partnership.

They said they were pleased with the continued police cooperation in cracking down on organised crime, including illegal drug seizure operations, cracking down on money laundering and busting human and weapon trafficking networks.

Bozinovic and Thomas said civil protection was another area where bilateral cooperation could be intensified, especially given the increasingly far-reaching effects of climate change.

Thomas said that since the lifting of all Covid restrictions in the UK, the number of new cases had been continually falling also due to the high vaccination rate. Seventy-two percent of the population has received both doses and 88% the first one.

Although the number of daily cases has been high, the number of hospitalisations and deaths has suddenly dropped. The death-to-infection ratio at the start of the pandemic was 1:60, whereas now it is 1:1,000. Such indicators are a result of successful vaccination. The UK government is considering vaccination information campaigns and additional incentives, notably for youth, Thomas said.