Opening the plenary part of the meeting, German Ambassador to Croatia Juergen Staks expressed hope that Croatia would start membership talks with the EU next spring, adding that Germany would provide it with extensive support on that road.
"Membership talks with the EU are extremely difficult because every candidate country must meet high criteria in all areas," Staks said, adding that Croatia already had a leading role in the region.
This is evidenced by the traditionally good economic relations between the two countries, which enjoy strong political support, the German ambassador said.
The head of the HGK International Relations Sector, Dunja Konjevod, said that Germany was Croatia's second most important trade partner, the second biggest investor in Croatia and the best tourism-generating market for Croatia.
Croatia's exports to Germany in this year's first eight months amounted to around $565 million, which accounted for 11.3 percent of all exports in that period. Imports from Germany totalled as much as $1.64 billion, or 15.5 percent of all imports.
From 1993 to 2004, Germany invested close to two billion dollars in Croatia, which is 20.31 percent of foreign direct investments.
More than 1.55 million German tourists (a 20.95 percent share) who visited Croatia last year accounted for more than 11 million overnight stays (a 26.76 percent share), which makes them the most numerous tourists in Croatia, Konjevod said.
Today's meeting was the final part of a two-day visit of a German business delegation which was headed by the deputy head of the South-East Europe and Turkey Department at the German Ministry of the Economy and Labour, Hartmut Messerschmidt.
The meeting also included business talks between representatives from individual German and Croatian companies.