ZAGREB, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin Wednesday called for new measures to boost economic cooperation with Croatia with increasing mutual needs and convergence of common interests.

    Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the appeal while addressing a business forum of Chinese and Croatian entrepreneurs in Zagreb.

    Jia said that China and Croatia have a solid foundation and broad prospects for expanding trade and economic cooperation after the two countries established a comprehensive cooperation partnership in 2005 in the wake of the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992.

    He put forward a three-way approach to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation, which constitute an important part of the China-Croatia cooperation partnership.

    Jia said the governments of the two countries should play an active role in strengthening contact between their enterprises and boosting exchanges of information on markets, commodities and trade in a bid to explore cooperative potentials and expand trade.

    He said that Croatia's participation in Shanghai Expo in 2010 could be a golden opportunity to boost economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

    Jia said the two sides should actively explore the possibility of mutually beneficial cooperation in sectors such as telecommunications, medicine, manufacturing and food processing.

    He said China welcomes the entry of more and more Croatian products into the Chinese market, gradually narrowing the trade gap between the two countries.

    The two countries should also work on developing cooperative projects between small- and medium-sized enterprises of the two countries to increase mutual investment, he added.

    Saying the bilateral ties are at a historical beginning, Jia expressed the belief that the business sectors of the two countries would seize the opportunity and make joint efforts to make China-Croatia economic and trade cooperation more fruitful and to benefit the two countries and the two peoples.

    Jia arrived here Tuesday morning on a visit to Croatia. Croatia is the last leg of Jia's four-European nation trip, which has already taken him to Romania, Hungary and Slovenia.