Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said in the central Croatian town of Gospic on Wednesday that he would like to be the first to applaud at the June 24 session of the European Council and congratulate his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor on the completion of Croatia's EU entry talks, while PM Kosor that she expected the EU entry talks to be completed by the end of June.
"If on June 24, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of its sovereignty, Croatia receives a guarantee for the completion of its entry talks, and if PM Kosor is invited to the European Council session, I would like to be the first to applaud it and to congratulate her," said Pahor.
"It would be a great success for Croatia, for the region and for the EU if the talks were completed by the end of June," Pahor told reporters after he and Kosor laid a cornerstone in Gospic for the factory Calcit Lika, to be built there by the Slovenian company Calcit.
The two prime ministers recalled the great progress made in Croatian-Slovenian relations in the last two years, starting with their meeting in Trakoscan, when they agreed to settle a long-lasting border dispute and unblock Croatia's EU entry talks.
Pahor said that two years after the Trakoscan meeting the two countries and their citizens had good political, economic and interpersonal relations, as evidenced by the fact that this year trade between the two countries had increased 17 percent. "Croatia has a friend in Slovenia, just as Slovenia has a friend in Croatia," the Slovenian PM said.
Kosor said the two governments had successfully unblocked Croatia's EU entry talks, setting after that as their main goal the strengthening of their economic relations.
"In 2009 we had five closed policy areas (in the EU entry talks), today we have 31 closed policy areas, and we expect to close the remaining four and Croatia to complete the talks by the end of the month, as we have planned," said Kosor.
She said that Croatia and Slovenia would continue their successful cooperation in the EU as well.
She noted that last year the number of Slovenian tourists vacationing in Croatia was six percent up from the previous year and invited Slovenians to spend their holidays in Croatia this year as well.
Croatia's exports to Slovenia in 2010 were 25 percent up from 2009, and in the first four months of this year they increased 17 percent, she recalled.
The Calcit Lika factory, to be built in Gospic, will produce calcite fillers for the paint, paper and plastic industries. The investment of the Slovenian parent company Calcit amounts to EUR 15 million. After it is finished in early 2012, the factory will employ 35 workers and another 200 workers in local subcontractors.
After visiting Gospic, the Croatian and Slovenian prime ministers visited the Plitvice Lakes national park.
