October 7, 2021 - Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez visited Croatia recently and met with Croatian PM Andrej Plenković to talk about deepening diplomatic relations in 2022.

Nobody can deny the fact that foreign countries' ambassadors and diplomats are valuable in the day-to-day business of nurturing diplomatic relations with Croatia on various levels (political, cultural, economic, and more). But it's even more special when political representatives of other countries actually come to Croatia for an official visit.

The latest such instance was the visit of Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez. His meeting with the Croatian PM Andrej Plenković was the big story in the Croatian media space. Apart from foreign politicians' visitors generally being interesting, this was also the first visit of any Spanish PM, making the story all the more interesting.

As stated by the official governmental website, the two PM's talked about upgrading diplomatic relations between Croatia and Spain and the continuing intense political dialogue next week down in Dubrovnik at the European Future Conference (one such conference was recently held in Osijek).

PM Plenković pointed out the fact that Croatia recently joined the MED 9 Forum which involves nine Mediterranian countries, including Spain.

''The forum will serve as a dialogue for Mediterranean countries for upgrading their cooperation in a series of areas, particularly in terms of key global questions we're faced with. From the fight against illegal immigration, climate change, which is particularly important for all Mediterranean countries, to a series of security and developing topics important for North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean,'' said Plenković.

Spain and Croatia enjoy mutual trade worth one billion euros, but the goal is, of course, to increase that figure.

Both countries are tourism-oriented, with the Spanish capital of Madrid also being the headquarters of the World Tourism Organisation, and instead of looking at each other as competitors for global tourists, the two leaders agreed to collaborate and enhance the offers of both of their countries.

Spain will also be the host of a top NATO meeting in 2022. With Croatia being a very enthusiastic NATO member, the Croatian governmental website states this is another reason Croatia wants closer relations with Spain.

To make sure not everything is just trade, tourism, politics and the military, there's good progress in terms of science too, in particular, the environment.

''One of the projects that is very important for reducing greenhouse gasses is the DONES project. It is Croatian-Spanish partner cooperation in which the Croatian side brings experts from the Ruđer Bošković Institute. It is a very important strategic project for nuclear fusion financed by the European Union funds. Experts will work on upgrading research so we can have a future of infinite clean energy sources,'' promises the governmental website.

This meeting was initiated by Plenković and he invited Sanchez, but the wish for cooperation is mutual.

''Spain wants closer cooperation with Croatia,'' said Spanish PM Sanchez, adding he expects to see Plenković in Madrid next year.

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