The ministers told the press after their meeting that they were especially happy with the joint promotion of the two countries in Japan, China, India and Latin America.

The countries complement each other as tourist destination, said Počivalšek. "We do not pose direct competition to Croatia's seaside and we have achieved great results in the fields in which we cooperate."

The minister underlined that Croatia was a very important partner to Slovenia in tourism and economy in general. The countries' annual trade tops EUR 3bn, which makes Croatia Slovenia's fourth biggest trade partner.

Lorencin moreover said the ministers discussed cooperation between the countries' tourist organisations and ways to boost the number of Slovenia's tourists in Croatia and vice-versa.

The ministers also decided to call on investors from Slovenia, Croatia and elsewhere to continue investing in the countries' tourism sectors.

"Croatia has privatised much of the sector and we still have some very important goals in this field," said Lorencin. "Since Slovenia is our second most important market, we believe there are Slovenian investors interested in investing in the Croatian tourism sector."