Croatian President Stjepan Mesic is on a visit to Vietnam from March 9-11 at the invitation of Vietnamese State President Nguyen Minh Triet.

This is the first visit to Vietnam by the Croatian State leader since the country declared its dependence after being separated from the Yugoslavian Federation in 1991.

On March 9, President Stjepan Mesic visited the northern border province of Quang Ninh where he expressed his surprise at the beautiful landscape of Ha Long Bay. On the occasion, Mr Mesic and his entourage voted online for Ha Long Bay as a new World Natural Wonder.

As scheduled, after the welcoming ceremony for Croatian President Stjepan Mesic at the Presidential Palace, State President Nguyen Minh Triet will have talks with his Croatian counterpart Stjepan Mesic on orientations and measures to strengthen the ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries in economics, trade and investment.

Croatia is located on the Balkan peninsular in south-eastern Europe. Expanding its relations with Asia and ASEAN nations including Vietnam is one of the top priorities in Croatia’s external relations policy.

Vietnam and Croatian established their diplomatic ties on July 1, 1994. Both sides have conducted the exchange of visits by some ministerial-level delegations and signed cooperative protocols between the two foreign ministries.

Croatian President Stjepan Mesic met with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on the sidelines of the 62^nd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, 2007.

Both sides agreed to accelerate their negotiations for the early signing of agreements on economic and trade cooperation, investment encouragement and protection, double taxation avoidance and visa exemptions for diplomatic and official passport holders.

Economic and trade ties between Vietnam and Croatia remain rather modest with Vietnamese exports being in surplus.

Mr Stjepan Mesic, 74, was elected as Croatian President in 2000 and is well into his second term. Mr Mesic previously held his posts as Croatia’s Prime Minister and speaker of the Croatian Parliament.