PM Milanovic arrived in Japan on Tuesday and is due to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Wednesday.
This prompted Vrdoljak to express satisfaction with the fact that "our premier has received an invitation from the Japanese premier".
"I am honoured to see that Japan has shown an interest in cooperating with Croatia," the minister said at a conference organised by a business newspaper in Zagreb.
Vrdoljak is sure that one of the topics of the Abe-Milanovic talks would be the future coal-fired thermal power plant Plomin C, estimated at over 800 million euros.
The Japanese company Marubeni has submitted a bid for the construction of that block, which with its installed power of 500 MW is to replace the existing 125 MW block Plomin 1.
Vrdoljak is sure that the future newly-built plant would increase Croatia's GDP by 0.5%.
Asked by the press about calling a referendum on oil rigs in the Croatian Adriatic sea before the conclusion of relevant contracts with concessionaires, the minister said replied that his job was "to preserve jobs in Croatia and not to allow importers to run the Croatian energy policy".
In response to comments that revenues from the tourist trade in Croatia's coastal area are 100 times higher than a potential profit from oil rigs offshore, Vrdoljak said that it was a "provocation of those who know nothing about (this)".
Several Green activists posted banner with messages reading "Minister of Dirty Business" and "A Small Country for a Big Spill" at the entrance of the building where the conference was held. They were staging a protest rally during the conference.