On the afternoon of February 18, 2003, Premier Zhu Rongji met with visiting Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia Goran Granic at the Great Hall of the People.

Zhu said that in the past 11 years of diplomatic relations, bilateral cooperation had expanded in such fields as politics, economics, culture, science, education and health. Although China and Croatia were far apart geographically and had differences in population, area, and historical and cultural backgrounds, they understood and trusted each other and had made positive efforts to develop mutually beneficial cooperation. The smooth development of Sino-Croatian ties proved that countries with different conditions could build sound cooperation as long as they followed the principle of mutual respect, equality and reciprocity. The Chinese government had always valued progress in Sino-Croatian ties and would work with Croatia to make bilateral relations a model for reciprocal cooperation between countries with different national conditions in the direction set by China-Croatia Joint Statement on Deepening Mutually Beneficial and Cooperative Relations signed by the two heads of state. We appreciate the Croatian government's resolute adherence to the One China policy.

Thanking Zhu for his meeting,  Granic expressed his admiration for China's economic achievements and said the Croatian government valued its friendly and cooperative ties with China, especially economic and trade cooperation. There was still great potentiality yet to be tapped for economic and trade cooperation, and the memorandum of understanding on tourism signed between the two countries would promote the Chinese people's understanding of Croatia.