CRO FOREIGN MINISTER POSITIVELY ABOUT CROATIA-CHINA RELATIONS

ZAGREB, March 13 (Hina) - Croatia and China have good political relations and we hope our economic relations will soon improve as well, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said in an interview with China's leading daily 'Renmin Ribao', ahead of his official visit to China. Picula will pay an official visit to the People's Republic of China between March 19 and 23. "Croatia admires China's great achievements in the process of reforms and opening up toward the world and it is ready to intensify cooperation with China," Picula told the daily, stressing that over the past two decades China had implemented thorough reforms and achieved enviable results in the economic, social and other fields, and that it had an increasingly influential role in international relations. According to Picula, since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, China and Croatia have appreciated and developed bilateral relations, which has been proven with numerous visits by senior Chinese officials to Croatia and visits by senior Croatian officials to China. The Croatian government understands and supports the policy of a "single China," Picula said, expressing hope the Chinese government would manage to solve the problem of Taiwan with adequate measures and unite the country as soon as possible. Speaking about the future of Croatian-Chinese economic relations, Picula said Croatia hoped the economic relations would strengthen despite the fact that the current trade between the two countries was modest. (hina) sb rml