President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to Zoran Milanovic, the president of Croatia, on his assuming office on Tuesday.

China and Croatia have maintained and consolidated mutual political trust, and the two sides have made fruitful achievements in jointly building the Belt and Road, Xi said in the message.

Xi pointed out that China and Croatia have worked together well under the framework of China-Central and Eastern European Countries cooperation.

Noting that Croatia is the current president of the European Union, Xi said Croatia is a friend of China in the bloc.

Xi said he attached great importance to the development of China-Croatia relations, and he would like to make joint efforts with Milanovic to deepen bilateral friendship and cooperation and make new contributions to the development of China-Central and Eastern European Countries cooperation and China-EU relations.

Milanovic, who served as Croatian prime minister from December 2011 until January 2016, won a landslide victory in the country's presidential election in January this year.