Polančec: Croatia needs to become a small country for large investments

Today, the 6th international conference on promoting exports organized by the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) and under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of Croatia began in Dubrovnik.

Opening the conference, HBOR’s CEO Anton Kovačev emphasized that this year’s gathering is special as it marks 15 years since HBOR started operating and took the opportunity to remind the gathered participants of past successes. According to him, HBOR has participated in financing over 35 thousand projects since its inception, through which 57 billion kuna has been allocated.

– Of the total amount, 13 billion kuna has been spent on directly promoting exports, and 4.5 billion kuna on insuring exports against risks – Kovačev lists and adds that HBOR has presented several new export promotion programs this year. Without new products or improvements to old ones, Kovačev believes companies have no place in the global market, and that is precisely why we launched a new innovation promotion program, and besides participating in financing projects, we are entering into shared risk with the entrepreneur by investing in equity. In addition to this program, Kovačev announced that he will continue to promote the creation of clusters and listen to the wishes of Croatian entrepreneurs to create new programs accordingly.

Alongside Kovačev, Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polančec addressed the gathering on behalf of the Prime Minister, emphasizing that Croatia needs to become not only a small country for great vacations but also a small country for large investments. After presenting macroeconomic indicators, Polančec also reflected on the measures of the Croatian export offensive and invited foreign investors to knock on the doors of the Agency for the Promotion of Exports and Investments, which is the right partner for every investor. After the opening remarks and welcome speech, the conference program continued with Lars Kolte, president of the Bern Union, an association of export credit agencies and export insurers, who spoke on the topic of the Future of Export Credit Agencies.

Kolte emphasized globalization and the intensification of competition among public export credit agencies and private insurers in his presentation. – The trend of increasing competitiveness can only be favorable for entrepreneurs as it opens more sources for financing – Kolte explained and concluded his presentation with the thesis that HBOR, given its past operations, has a great chance of becoming a relevant player in the global market. (Sandra Babić)