Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Sunday attended the marking of Croatian National Day at Expo 2020 Dubai, saying Croatia is a "country of investors" and that it has centuries-long ties with the Arab world.

Croatia is attending Expo for the first time since 2010 in China.

Today the Croatian Pavilion at Expo 2020 was visited by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, a member of the United Arab Emirates government and commissioner of the exhibition.

“UAE-Croatia relations have been growing considerably in the last decade and we wish to expand the cooperation in the commercial, political and cultural spheres,” he said, adding that the Croatian pavilion symbolises the “growing relations” between the two states.

Plenkovic said he was proud of the “history, talent and creativity” of the Croatian people and the “beautiful and preserved nature and the diversity of the cultural heritage.”

He mentioned the necktie, Faust Vrancic as the first man to jump with a parachute in 1617, criminalist and fingerprinting creator Ivan Vucetic, modern seismology founder Andrija Mohorovicic, and Nikola Tesla.

“Thanks to him (Tesla), in 1895 Sibenik became the first city whose street lighting received energy from a hydroelectric power plant,” Plenković said and also mentioned the Rimac Automobili company, which made the fastest electric car in the world, which is displayed in the Croatian Pavilion.

“Besides an innovative and creative spirit,” Croatia is also full of talent in sports, culture, music and art, he said, calling on those present to visit Croatia.

Plenković said the relations between Croatia and the Arab world dated back to the Middle Ages.

“For centuries, the Croats were the only Slavic people which maintained relations with the Arabs in the Mediterranean, and the Croatian republic of Dubrovnik traded intensively with the Arab states as a mediator between East and West,” he said.

“Therefore it’s no coincidence that the first mention of Croatia on the world map was on the one designed by the great Arab Islamic geographer and cartographer al-Idrisi in the 12st century,” Plenković added.

He also mentioned Croatian philosopher Hermann the Dalmatian, one of the most important translators from Arabic to Latin, the author of the first Latin translation of the Qur’an, and the fact that Croatia was the third European country to officially recognise Islam as a religion in 1916.

Plenković was accompanied to Dubai by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman and Tourism Minister Nikolina Brnjac.