Jia Qinglin (R), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), is greeted upon his arrival in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, May 13, 2008. (Xinhua/Gao Jie)

ZAGREB, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Jia Qinglin, head of China's top political advisory body, arrived in Zagreb Tuesday morning for an official goodwill visit to Croatia.

Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), arrived in Zagreb after concluding an official goodwill visit to Slovenia.

Croatia is the last leg of Jia's four-nation Europe trip, which has already taken him to Romania, Hungary and Slovenia.

In a written speech delivered upon his arrival at the airport, Jia said that the people of China and Croatia share a long-standing friendship.

Jia said that in the past 16 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations, China and Croatia have maintained frequent political dialogues and achieved rich results in practical cooperation in such areas as trade, economy, culture, and science and technology. These have brought about substantial benefits to the people of both countries.

Jia said China attaches great importance to developing relations with Croatia, and that China is ready to join hands with Croatia to usher in new prospects for the all-round cooperative relations between the two countries.

China and Croatia established diplomatic relations in 1992.