India, Croatia reiterate commitment to open, free Indo-Pacific region

India and Croatia have reiterated their commitment to an open, free and stable Indo-Pacific region. During the virtual interaction, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and Croatian State Secretary for Political Affairs Frano Matusic have exchanged views on developments in the Indo-Pacific region.

The meeting set a broad-based agenda for mutual cooperation in 2021 which will provide substance for celebrations of three decades of establishment of diplomatic relationship between the two countries in 2022.

India's two years non-permanent membership of UNSC starting from next month and Croatia's strong active role in the European Union were recognised as



important platforms for mutual cooperation to pursue common and convergent agendas on issues of global importance such as climate change, counter-terrorism, global healthcare issues and multilateral norms making for global commons such as cyberspace, maritime domain and outer-space.

The two countries also discussed the need for developing a multi-layered digital partnership with emphasis on corporate partnership, start-ups engagement, cyber R&D, talent and skilled human resources cooperation, cybersecurity and cyberinfrastructure. They welcomed the initial events in the area of start-ups engagements of two sides which were organized in this month.