ZAGREB, 30 Oct (Hina) - The foreign ministers of Croatia and Denmark welcomed the opening of Rijeka Gateway, stressing that the new container terminal in Rijeka held "enormous potential" and was of great importance not only for Zagreb and Copenhagen but for the whole of Europe and its resilience.

The Rijeka Gateway was formally inaugurated earlier on Wednesday, and the terminal represents a €380 million joint investment between APM Terminals (Danish Maersk Group) and Croatia's ENNA Group.

Rijeka Gateway is of great significance for Croatia, Denmark and Europe, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman told a press conference after a meeting with his Danish counterpart Lars Løkke Rasmussen in Zagreb, expressing satisfaction that the project had been successfully completed during Denmark's presidency of the EU.

The Danish minister, who earlier met with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in Rijeka, said that the new terminal had huge potential for the region and for Europe as a whole, strengthening its resilience through investment in critical infrastructure.

The minister described the project as fantastic and underscored that it would have a major impact on economic growth.

Calling the Rijeka Gateway one of Croatia's most important logistical and infrastructure projects, Grlić Radman said it would help make the country an energy hub, while Rasmussen added that the terminal was proof of the strong cooperation between the two nations.

 Energy hub

The two ministers also discussed hybrid drone attacks in Denmark, the war in Ukraine, defence investments, energy policy, the need for Europe to end its dependence on Russian energy, and the EU's enlargement to the Western Balkans.

I expressed Croatia's support and solidarity with Denmark in light of the hybrid attacks, Grlić Radman said, referring to recent drone incidents over Danish airports.

The Danish minister praised Croatia for standing by Ukraine from the very beginning, while his Croatian counterpart, commenting on peace initiatives by US President Donald Trump, reiterated that there could be no peace without Ukraine at the table and that it had to be a just peace, without territorial concessions.

Both ministers said they support EU enlargement to the countries of the Western Balkans, but only on the basis of fulfilled conditions.