Addressing the forum which pooled about a hundred Croatian and Chinese business people, Sanader said that good Croatian-Chinese political relations, which was confirmed during his talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao last week, facilitated the enhancement of cooperation in the economic sector.
We can say that there are no outstanding issues in our relations, and our friendship creates a better atmosphere for economic and any other cooperation, the Croatian premier said.
He also recalled that the Croatian capital of Zagreb and Shanghai would this year mark the 25th anniversary of their friendship.
A bilateral agreement on cooperation in small and medium-sized entrepreneurship, which was signed a few days ago in Beijing, is an additional element in the legal framework for cooperation, together with agreements on double taxation avoidance and investment protection which the two countries signed before, Sanader added.
He called on Chinese business people to use Croatian seaports of Rijeka and Ploce as gateways for their arrival at central and eastern European markets and to use potentials of the Zagreb Fair company (ZV) for their permanent promotion in the region.
The chairman of the Shanghai international trade association, Chen Furong, presented figures about an impressive development of this city which is one of the world's biggest, most booming urban areas. The annual growth rate is 10 percent with the Gross Domestic Product coming to 90 billion US dollars in 2004. The current foreign investments total 89.2 billion dollars.
Chen said that last year, the trade between Shanghai and Croatia was 21.86 million dollars with the total trade between China and Croatia amounting to 642.7 million dollars.
After the plenary assembly of the forum, Croatian and Chinese business people are expected to hold individual meeting.
The Croatian Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship Ministry has recently published a catalogue of Croatian companies and products for the Chinese market. The catalogue is published in English and Chinese.