00:00Wang Yi arrived in Montenegro after talks in neighboring Croatia.
00:03The discussions are focused on deepening bilateral relations and expanding opportunities for cooperation.
00:10Ivo Rošipović is the former president of Croatia.
00:14On a political level, I don't think any important issues between two countries.
00:21Our president stated that we support one China principle.
00:26China respects Croatia as an independent state, as an equal partner.
00:30And I think it's a very good basis for a very good cooperation.
00:35Wang Yi wants to expand that cooperation into nuclear energy, ports, telecommunications, artificial intelligence.
00:42Which of those makes most sense for Croatia?
00:46Oh, China is a huge, big country with a developed economy.
00:50We are a relatively small country, but we have partly a very sophisticated economy.
00:57We have also excellent tourism.
00:59And I think that it's very important, of course, to pick up from both places what the other party does
01:06not have.
01:07So we can offer machinery, we can offer tourism, we can offer also some electronics.
01:13But also China can offer to us not only construction, but also some other goods.
01:21You mentioned several of them.
01:22And I think there is an important big space to widen our cooperation.
01:27Croatia is, of course, a member of the European Union.
01:30And Wang Yi said he hopes that that can bring China and Europe closer together.
01:34At a time when trade is causing some friction, what can a smaller EU country like Croatia do to help?
01:42So I think it's very important to discuss some controversies or some problems in cooperation.
01:50China and the European Union should be close partners.
01:53Of course, both sides have expectations, but compromise is magic work.
01:58Compromise is magic work.
02:00And I think that China and the European Union can meet each other's expectations and to have good business for
02:08both parties.
02:10So, yes, in the European Union, several countries and the European Union in total are a little bit frustrated by
02:18the fact that China is much more exporting than importing from the European Union.
02:24Well, Croatia has said it wants Chinese investment in car manufacturing.
02:28Could it become a base for Chinese electric vehicle makers in Europe, do you think?
02:33Yeah, I think that China probably can more use direct investments to combine with export interests.
02:44You know, if you build an example factory in Croatia, then it's Croatian product.
02:49And then you can sell it in the European Union.
02:51But that also contributes to our national economy.
02:56From the other side, China can benefit because there are no custom barriers.
03:01And at the very beginning, all rules, standards established in Croatia, European Union shall be applied to the products in
03:12Croatia, Hungary, Italy or somewhere else.
03:16You mentioned the bridge that China helped build, linking Dubrovnik to the rest of Croatia.
03:21What has that kind of project, what has that project meant for the country?
03:26For us, it's very important from an economical point of view, from transportation as well,
03:34because now we don't need to pass two borders, because our coast is somehow breached by one small portion of
03:47Bosnia and Herzegovina territory.
03:49So it makes our trips much quicker, and it's important not only for tourism, but for communication.
03:59But from the other side, it's also very important that now we have connected our south part of the state
04:05with the rest of the state,
04:07because we were somehow separated by part of the coast that belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
