Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said at the conference "Mediterranean Dialogues" in Rome on Saturday that Croatia wanted to become an energy hub for Southeast Europe.

Grlic Radman was speaking at panels on European neighbourhood policy and the global food crisis, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said in a press release.

Speaking at the first panel, Grlic Radman commented on the situation in Southeast Europe in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, stressing that Croatia strongly supports efforts to preserve regional stability through comprehensive economic cooperation and EU and NATO enlargement policy.

Considering its geopolitical position and existing energy infrastructure, with technological advancement trends, Croatia wants to become an energy hub for this part of Europe and beyond, he said, pointing in that context to the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project, on which Croatia, Italy and Slovenia have been cooperating.

Speaking at a panel on the food crisis, the minister underlined the importance of the role of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the UN in the fight against that crisis, stressing that the current degree of food insecurity was a direct consequence of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy, supply chain disruptions, extreme weather conditions and armed conflicts, notably the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ministry said.

“Even before the Russian invasion, the Global Report on Food Crises estimated that around 200 million people in more than 45 countries were faced with a high degree of food insecurity and were in need of urgent help. The Russian attack on Ukraine has dramatically worsened the situation across the globe increasing hunger, poverty and instability with global repercussions, including here, in the Mediterranean,” the minister said, calling for adapting global food and energy systems so they could no longer be weaponised or used for blackmail.

On the margins of the Rome conference, Grlic Radman met with his Italian and Lebanese counterparts Antonio Tajani and Abdallah Bou Habib respectively.

On that occasion, Grlic Radman announced a project which Croatia would launch in cooperation with UNICEF to build several playgrounds for children with developmental disabilities in Lebanon.