Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong met visiting Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović last Friday and said Shanghai enjoys good ties with Croatia and has been a sister city of Zagreb for 35 years.

Yang said Shanghai wants to play a bigger role in building closer ties between the two countries within the framework of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the China-CEEC Cooperation.

The mayor said Shanghai is striving to become an international economic, financial, trade and shipping center. Efforts have been made to facilitate foreign investment and trade and open up the financial sector to encourage inbound and outbound investment.

He welcomed the Croatian Chamber of Commerce to open an office in Shanghai and wished the two countries can expand cooperation in tourism, culture, science and technology, education and health.

Kitarović said this year is the 10th anniversary of the Croatia-China comprehensive partnership. Croatia is keen to strengthen economic and trade ties with China and cooperate with Shanghai in more fields such as food processing, tourism, science and technology, education, port services and shipbuilding.

Chinese Ambassador to Croatia Deng Ying and Croatian Ambassador to China Nebojsa Koharovic joined the meeting.