Economic diplomacy is an important support for exporters. The Minister of Economy announced the recruitment of trade attachés into economic diplomats.
For a country like Croatia, the best support for export is a quality product, što well know successful exporters such as što are Končar, Agrokor, and Altpro, who shared their experiences and problems in a discussion at the second panel of the 9th International Conference on Export Promotion. But are Croatian companies aggressive enough in their approach to foreign markets and što is the Government doing to improve the work of exporters? – The foundation of the Government’s work is certainly the completion of negotiations with the EU and, accordingly, the opening of a large and širokog space. The last part of that journey will be more difficult – replied Minister of Economy Đuro Popijač and reiterated that the Government’s measures aim to create space for motivating domestic and foreign investments. We will only export, he continued, when we start producing quality. Although he believes that Croatia is capable of producing quality, što is evidenced by new export data, he emphasizes that this is not enough. Therefore, in his opinion, the role of the state is to create conditions for such an approach and thus create an export portfolio by utilizing today’s potential, i.e., maximizing the use of personnel and institutions. Economic diplomacy is a very important support for exporters, says Popijač, who on this occasion announced the creation of a network of economic offices that will be a kind of upgrade to the work of diplomacy. For this reason, by the end of this year, trade attachés will be placed at about 30 of the most needed locations, who will be recruited into economic diplomats.
The idea is very good, agreed Damir Kuštrak, president of the Executive Board of the Croatian Employers’ Association, asserting that economic diplomacy is a strong lever for exporters. This is also the opinion of Zoran Jašić, ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration in Austria. – Small exporters must find catalysts in state institutions that would enable them to export – emphasized Jašić, adding that quality must be the motto. The quality of the product brought Jana to the American market, added Tomislav Lučić, executive vice president for finance and control at Agrokor. There, Jana achieved sales of 25 million dollars. Agrokor’s goal for the next year is to achieve sales of 80 million dollars and employ 70 new people. Work is also underway on a meat processing plant in Russia, says Lučić, a country where there are not many Croatian exporters, and which, along with the Chinese market, represents the future. Recognizing the market and innovation is key, believes Zvonimir Viduka, director of Altpra, a company specialized in the development and production of equipment for railway vehicles that exports to 32 countries worldwide on šest continents. However, proving and confirming on the domestic market is also important, što is, after all, a reference. This was confirmed by Lučić, who said that only after achieving success in the domestic market did they start to go abroad, and that the best defense of domestic production is success in the regional market.
