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Zagreb - Croatia and Finland are friendly countries with good political relations that have a lot in common but their cooperation should be additionally strengthened on the economic front, Croatian Parliament Speaker Božo Petrov and his guest, Finnish Parliament Speaker Maria Lohela, said on Thursday.
"Croatia and Finland have had good political relations for 25 years, but their cooperation needs to be strengthened on the economic front," Petrov said after talks with his Finnish counterpart.
Lohela, who is on her first visit to Croatia, said that the two countries had a lot in common, shared many challenges as well as possibilities, notably on the economic front, stressing that the newest EU member was a country of big opportunities. She was hopeful that her visit would help advance relations between the two countries both at the parliamentary and at the business level.
Lohela said that Croatia was an increasingly popular tourist destination for Finnish tourists, expressing hope that those trends would continue and that Croatians, too, would choose to visit Finland.
The Finnish parliament in mid-December 2012 ratified with a vast majority of votes Croatia's EU accession treaty and the vote was also attended by then Croatian Parliament Speaker Josip Leko.
Finland was the 20th country to approve Croatia's accession to the EU, without waiting for the European Commission's final monitoring report in March 2013. Finland had a very active role in transformation processes in Croatia and participated in the modernisation of its legal system. Last year 68,000 Finnish tourists visited Croatia. (Hina)