USAID Mission Director, William Jeffers with Prime Minister Dr. Ivo Sanader and HBOR President of the Management Board, Anton Kovacev at the "Foreign Investments for the Growth of the Croatian Economy" conference in Cavtat.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader pointed out that Croatia could be a good country for foreign investment and that the Government will create a favorable investment climate. He said that bureaucracy and corruption are among the impediments and "we are making every effort to eliminate them".
Foreign Investment - Croatia's Future
Croatia is in the race for global foreign investment but is not running fast enough.
An international conference was organized by USAID and the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) in October to support Croatia's efforts to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) and help Croatia to position itself as a safe and attractive destination for foreign investors.
USAID supports foreign direct investment efforts in Croatia through the "Poduzetna Hrvatska" project to increase the value of foreign direct investment, to generate new jobs and export revenues.
In the past year, USAID supported two major greenfield investments, valued at $51.6 million. This created 582 jobs with 98 percent of production aimed at foreign markets. Currently there are nine investment projects in process, valued at $32 million that will help create 530 new jobs in export-oriented industries.
The conference was attended by Prime Minister Dr. Ivo Sanader and over 100 representatives from the Government, development agencies, commercial banks and foreign investors. Discussions included some of the key reasons why investors do not invest in Croatia such as the i nefficient government bureaucracy, corruption, property and rights and the need to eliminate these barriers.
Speaking at the conference, USAID Mission Director, William Jeffers stated that foreign direct investment (FDI) has great potential to transform the economic environment in Croatia. FDI can rapidly provide finance and market access for new production. More importantly, it transfers new technologies and best practices to Croatian firms. For example, recently, I visited Vara ¾ din where I saw the transforming effects of FDI. In an area where textile production was considered a dying industry, an Italian investment of $36 million refocused and revitalized the sector. The Italian company imported state-of-the-art technology, hired and trained nearly 300 people and are now producing - and exporting high value-added textiles. As a result of that investment the area around Varazdin is benefiting from sustainable job creation, enhanced tax revenues and economic growth"
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