Premier Li Keqiang held a phone conversation on March 27 with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU), over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Expressing sympathies to Croatia over the COVID-19 outbreak, Premier Li said that through the hard work of the whole country and the Chinese people, China has achieved major progress in the prevention and control efforts for the current stage.

As the epidemic is currently spreading worldwide and has become a global challenge, no country can be left alone, Premier Li said, calling for the international community to strengthen cooperation with joint response.

Premier Li said the Chinese side stands ready to provide support for Croatia's fight as its capability allows, and offer convenience for it to purchase medical supplies from China through commercial channels.

Premier Li expressed hope that the Croatian side will provide a strong guarantee for the safety and living convenience of Chinese engineers and technicians participating in the construction of major projects in Croatia, as well as Chinese citizens working and living in Croatia.

China actively supports Croatia's initiative to convene a video conference between EU and Chinese health ministers, Premier Li said, and is ready to actively engage in international cooperation with EU members, including Croatia, to exchange and share experience in epidemic prevention, control and treatment.

For his part, Plenkovic expressed his appreciation for China's hard work in combating COVID-19.

Noting that the outbreak is currently spreading in Croatia, he expressed hope that China will offer support in his country's purchasing of supplies and equipment for the purpose of epidemic prevention.

Cooperation projects between Croatia and China continue to advance smoothly and are expected to yield more practical results in the wake of the epidemic, he said.

Croatia, as the rotating EU presidency, is committed to promoting EU-China cooperation and will convene an EU-China health ministers' video conference as soon as possible in order to exchange experience and join hands to fight the epidemic, he added. (Source: Xinhua, 28 March 2020)