The congratulatory message was sent to Pantovčak from Beijing on January 16, and Xi stressed the “deep and traditional friendship” between China and Croatia, which he also called “good friends and partners who respect and trust each other.”
Xi wrote that the two countries have worked together “very well” in recent years on the construction of the “Belt and Road,” referring to the huge Chinese state project in which a number of countries are participating, and Croatia was primarily present in it through the construction of the Pelješac Bridge. He further mentioned that cooperation in various fields has continued “in the spirit of openness, mutual benefit and the vitality of bilateral relations.”
“I attach great importance to the development of Sino-Croatian relations and am ready to work with President [Milanović] to advance them so that we can modernize our two countries and open a new chapter in a comprehensive partnership in the spirit of cooperation,” the President of the People’s Republic of China wrote in his message to his Croatian counterpart Milanović.
Almost all the presidents of countries in Croatia’s surrounding countries congratulated Zoran Milanović on his election victory.
On the very first day after the presidential elections, in which he won almost three-quarters of the votes of voters who went to the polls, Milanović received congratulations from numerous statesmen from the surrounding countries.
Thus, as reported by the media, he was congratulated on his re-election by, among others, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović, Albanian President Bajram Begaj, and Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani.
President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željka Cvijanović, as well as Bosniak member of the Presidency Denis Bećirović, congratulated Milanović on his re-election.
The president of the smaller BiH entity, Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, also sent him a congratulatory message.