Japan, Croatia Agree on Cooperation in Tourism, Investment

Tokyo, June 17 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Croatian counterpart, Zoran Milanovic, agreed on Wednesday to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in fields including investment and tourism. At their meeting in Tokyo, Abe and Milanovic also confirmed cooperation to help Japan and the European Union reach a broad accord within this year on their planned economic partnership agreement for free trade. The two leaders shared the need to beef up bilateral tourism-related exchanges as the number of Japanese tourists to Croatia is increasing. At a joint press conference after the meeting, Abe praised Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013 after overcoming the ethnic conflict following its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. Milanovic expressed his hope for Japanese companies' increased investment in Croatia. END