According to the Provincial Party Committee Secretary Luo Huining, there is great potential for cooperation between Shanxi and Croatia. It is necessary to implement the cooperation consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, take the opportunities of culture and tourism to promote the all-around development of bilateral trade and cultural exchanges, and jointly play a positive role in the comprehensive cooperative partnership between China and Croatia.

The delegation of the Chinese SouthEast European Business Association (CSEBA) also attended the ceremony.

Secretary-General of the Ministry of Tourism, Frano Matušić, in his speech emphasized the important role of CSEBA in attracting Chinese investments in health tourism, especially in Krapinske Toplice and Kumrovec. In addition, some new investments have been announced, such as those in Osijek Airport.

A new Chinese ambassador in Croatia Xu Erwen was also very welcome, so it was a chance to meet with the President of the Presidency of the CSEBA, Mario Rendulic, and it was agreed to organize a meeting as soon as possible.

The conference is one of the many events on the occasion of 2019 as a year of co-operation between China and Croatia, bringing together over one hundred representatives of tourism and culture and the Chinese province, the Chinese Embassy in Croatia, the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ), the HGK Tourism Sector Croatian tourist agencies. Representatives of several agencies held a meeting with the Chinese potential partners ahead of the conference, and some of them, as they have learned, signed a cooperation agreement.

Shanxi, which is located on the plateau Loess in the middle part of the Yellow River in the north of China, was also represented at the conference, with a wealth of tourist resources, as well as 271 cultural heritage under the state protection, representing 11.5 percent of the total all over China.

Shanxi’s long-standing position as an avenue of communication between the North China Plain, the Mongolian steppes, and Central Asia gave rise to a rich and varied cultural and folkloric tradition. Several distinctive forms of Shanxi opera became popular under the Ming and Qing dynasties. Metalworking has been a specialty of Shanxi craftsmen since the 2nd millennium BCE. The province was also famous for the uniquely sculpted decorative tiles and glazed pottery figures used for temple decoration.