ZAGREB, July 28, 2020 – Slovenian and Croatian foreign ministers Anze Logar and Gordan Grlic Radman met in Ljubljana on Tuesday, discussing further cooperation in efforts to contain the coronavirus epidemic and cooperation within the European Union.
Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Logar said he had learned from Slovenian epidemiologists that the number of new coronavirus cases was on the decline in some areas of Croatia and that he was glad about it.
“I think that Slovenia and Croatia should continue to cooperate closely and take coordinated action to curb the epidemic,” Logar said.
Responding to questions from the press, Logar said that he and Grlic Radman had also discussed epidemiological risks in Croatia and the possibility of Slovenian tourists bringing the virus into Slovenia after returning from their holidays in Croatia.
Logar raised the issue of open nightclubs and bars in Croatia, saying that there had been several cases of the virus being imported from Croatia. He also cited cases of people entering Slovenia from Croatia after previously visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is on Slovenia’s red list of unsafe countries. He said that those people stop over in Croatia for two days to get a certificate so that they would not have to go into quarantine in Slovenia.
Logar said that Slovenia was closely monitoring the epidemiological situation in its neighbourhood, including Croatia where a lot of Slovenian tourists are spending their summer holidays. He denied media reports that the Slovenian government was thinking of closing the border with Croatia in mid-August to prevent the possibility of children becoming infected while on holidays in Croatia and then returning to Slovenia before the start of the new school year.
Logar said that he and Grlic Radman had not discussed tighter border controls because of the COVID-19 outbreak. “It all depends on the epidemiological situation in both countries and the number of possible virus imports from Croatia,” the Slovenian foreign minister said.
Logar said that he had presented his Croatian counterpart with Slovenia’s views on cooperation within the Three Seas Initiative, which is due to hold a summit in Tallinn in October, and that he was interested in Croatian projects within this initiative and possible cooperation between the two countries in this regard.
Grlic Radman chose Ljubljana as his first foreign destination after the new Croatian government was confirmed and he retained his portfolio in the new cabinet. He said that this showed the importance Croatia attached to the cooperation with Slovenia.
He recalled that he had met with Logar on May 22, after which Slovenia opened small border crossings which had been closed because of the epidemic. He announced further successful cooperation in all areas, especially in the coordination of efforts to contain the epidemic.
Grlic Radman also pointed a recent successful meeting between Croatian and Slovenian prime ministers Andrej Plenkovic and Janez Jansa in the Slovenian border town of Otocec ob Krki, which had also focused on overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak.
