ZAGREB, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Fountains across the Croatian capital's landmark National and University Library have been lit up red to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb. 16.
Above the fountains, dozens of Chinese red lanterns were erected for this week's celebrations.
Earlier this week, a traditional Chinese lion dance was presented at Ban Jelacic square in the city center of Zagreb, which according to local Chinese businessmen was the first of its kind here in decades.
Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic was invited to conduct "eye dotting" for the "lions" along with Chinese ambassador Hu Zhaoming. The show attracted crowds of locals and media despite the snowy weather.
Later that day, a gala was held in Zagreb to celebrate the Chinese New Year saw the attendance of Deputy Speaker of Croatian Parliament Zeljko Reiner, former president Stjepan Mesic, and local primary school teachers and shipyard workers.
Speaking to Xinhua ahead of the event, Reiner said that he expected the diplomatic and all the other relations between Croatia and China would further develop in the new year.
"We have a long-lasting history of excellent relations and particularly in some fields like education, sports, culture and so on. What I personally expect is that we might develop much more our economic relations because there are huge possibilities for both sides to develop it," Reiner said.
CLOSER ECONOMIC TIES
More than 160,000 tourists from China visited Croatia in 2017, up nearly 60 percent from the previous year, according to figures. Starting from July this year, patrols by Chinese police officers will be deployed in Croatia's major tourist destinations in a bid to better help Chinese tourists.
Trade and economic ties between both countries strengthened in recent years, notably in 2017, when two Chinese companies invested millions of euros in local electronic supercar manufacturer Rimac and a wind power project respectively.
The most significant progress was the successful bid for the Peljesac bridge by a Chinese consortium in January this year, when Croatian highway authority found the Chinese offer of 2.08 billion kuna (about 340 million U.S. dollars) without VAT to be the most favourable.
The Peljesac bridge will connect the southernmost part of the southeastern European country and Dubrovnik to the rest of the mainland. With the bridge, Croatia will have a continuous land link that bypasses the territory of the Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Chinese ambassador Hu Zhaoming has expressed his "greatest hope" that the bridge contract would be signed as soon as possible.
"Let us bring forward the vision of a bright future and wish China-Croatia relations would achieve greater development in the new year," the ambassador said while addressing the gala.
