The meeting of Croatian and Chinese business people was opened by the deputy chairman of the China Council for International Trade, Yu Ping, who said that economic relations, particularly trade, had been developing well since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992.
Yu said that the development of such relations was facilitated by Croatia's political stability and geo-strategic position, as well as the fast growth of China's economy and its openness to the rest of the world. He stressed that the two countries' business people enjoyed the support of their governments in efforts to further their cooperation.
Sanader described his talks with Chinese PM Wen Jiabao as exceptionally good and friendly, adding that they would give new impetus to the development of bilateral relations.
"Bearing in mind the very good political relations and the fact that all necessary agreements setting a legal framework for cooperation have been signed, I call on Croatian business people to increase their exports to China, and Chinese business people to invest more in Croatia," Sanader said.
He underlined advantages which the northern port of Rijeka and the southern port of Ploce offered to Chinese business people as possible centres for the distribution of their products to Central European markets, and possibly to South-East and Western European markets.
The two countries' business people will discuss concrete projects at the forum, which continues on Monday in Shanghai, China's most important business centre.