Ukraine and Croatia signed documents on bilateral cooperation

Today, December 8, Kyiv has hosted the second plenary session of the Meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Croatian Commission on Economic Cooperation chaired by Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine Yuliia Laputina and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia Tomislav Čorič.

The event has been attended by Deputy Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine on European Integration Oleksiy Illiashenko, directors of relevant departments and deputy ministers of Ukrainian ministries, departments and companies, including: Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, NJSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine”, the State Labor Service of Ukraine, the State Employment Center, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine and others.

Opening the meeting, Yuliia Laputina has noted that Ukraine and Croatia have many similarities in the historical destiny of our countries and peoples. In particular, both countries lost their statehood and managed to regain it only in 1991. Croatia immediately had to defend its independence in the war with the enemies of its statehood, while the enemies of the Ukrainian state attacked us 23 years later - in 2014 and the war is still going on.

“Our war with the Russian aggressor is still ongoing, but we are aware of the importance of using the Croatian experience. After defending your independence, you fulfilled the super goal of joining NATO and the European Union. These are also the two most important state and political goals for Ukraine. And we are grateful to the Government of the Republic of Croatia for its constant support of Ukraine's efforts in this direction. For me, as the Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, the Croatian experience in working with Defenders who have returned from the war and their reintegration into civilian life is interesting. This is a challenging process that Croatia has gone through, and now we are going through it as well,” Yuliia Laputina noted.

During the event, the parties discussed urgent issues of bilateral cooperation, noted the agreements reached on further cooperation in veterans, economy and trade, agriculture, infrastructure, energy and metrology, and signed a number of bilateral documents.

In particular, Minister for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine Yuliia Laputina and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia Tomislav Čorič signed the Minutes of the 2nd meeting of the Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Republic of Croatia.

It sets out the agreements reached on further cooperation in industry and entrepreneurship, metrology and technical regulation, in the agro-industrial sector and in the field of energy and energy security, as well as regarding cooperation on veterans’ issues, digitalization, transport, tourism, health, physical culture and sports, archives.

Moreover, a bilateral agreement and memoranda have been signed.

In particular, Head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine Anatolii Khromov and Director of the Croatian State Archives Dinko Cutura signed an Agreement on Cooperation between the State Archival Service of Ukraine and the State Archives of the Republic of Croatia. It will provide equal access rights for Ukrainian and Croatian researchers to archival documents, as well as communication with the Ukrainian diaspora in Croatia on the study of documents related to Ukrainian history and deposited in diaspora centers in Croatia and can be of interest for research.

Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov and State Secretary of the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Croatia Alen Gospocic signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine and the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Croatia on Cooperation in the Field of Railway Transport. The agreement should provide conditions for the unimpeded rail conveyance of passengers, transportation of goods and mail between states.

Also, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Iryna Novikova and Director General of the State Office for Standardization and Metrology of the Republic of Croatia Brankica Novosel signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Metrology between the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and the State Office for Standardization and Metrology of the Republic of Croatia. It will create conditions for the development of bilateral cooperation in the field of metrology, in particular, in the context of Ukraine's implementation of the Association Agreement on technical barriers to trade and preparations for the conclusion of the ACAA being currently a priority task of the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of Ukraine in relations with the EU.

The next meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Croatian Commission on Economic Cooperation will take place in the capital of Croatia – Zagreb.