President of the Chinese Southeast European Business Association (CSEBA), Mario Rendulic, said that the promotion of Osijek Airport has to date stirred great interest among Chinese partners.

In addition to plans to build a cargo centre at the airport, Chinese entrepreneurs are expected to establish a logistics centre too.

Things are moving along and we are pleased about that. They are developing slowly but they are moving forward. We expect a letter of intent to be sent to the government so that we can move on even further, Rendulic said.

Chinese businesswoman Jiang Yu said that she is very interested in this location particularly since it can be combined with the possibilities provided by the Osijek river port and that negotiations are expected now on further details of possible cooperation.

- Project evaluation in cooperation with our partners from the Chinese South East European Business Association (CSEBA) has shown that there are opportunities for Chinese investors and we believe that we will soon concretize them - said Jiang Yu, founder of Z-Run Wellton Industries.

Osijek-Baranja County Prefect Ivan Anusic assesses that the latest visit by a larger Chinese delegation than on 18 April means they are truly interested, adding that further steps are being discussed and advertising a call for bids is within the remit of state government bodies and not at the county level.

I think that we're entering the final phase when talks need to be conducted between interested investors and the relevant ministries. They are interested in the airport, both for passenger and cargo transport which entails the construction of a logistics centre and we have more than 250 hectares of land available, Anusic said.

He believes that due to the airport's close vicinity to the river port, the pan-European Vc motorway and railway corridor as well as the closeness of the border with Hungary and with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Osijek is an ideal location which has been recognised by the Chinese entrepreneurs, he added.

The Osijek Airport director, Davor Forgic, informed that last year was a record year as far as passenger transport was concerned with 67,235 passengers catered for, up 55% on the year.