‘We will do everything we can to make Đaković a global player’

Minister of Economy Ivan Vrdoljak visited the company Đuro Đaković this afternoon in Slavonski Brod and on that occasion stated that he will do everything he can to make Đuro Đaković a global player.

Đaković is among the few companies in Croatia that has a globally competitive product for the world market, said Vrdoljak, who, accompanied by members of the Management Board of Đuro Đaković, toured the production facilities of Special Vehicles.

It is a combat armored vehicle produced in collaboration with the Finnish company Patria, equipped with a new remotely operated weapon station that Đaković recently developed with the Norwegian industrial group Kongsberg.

The entire combat armored vehicle is impressive, but the business collaboration on the project is even more impressive, emphasizes the minister.

The CEO of Đuro Đaković Holding, Vladimir Kovačević, stated that this product, according to tests conducted so far, is a hit product and certainly globally competitive as it can compete with products coming from countries that are much larger than Croatia.

Kovačević is optimistic about new jobs and contracts for Đaković. In about 15 days, we will provide concrete data on defined and signed contracts for 2013 and some of the following years. A significant part of the negotiations is in the final stages, said Kovačević, adding that in the past six months, despite the crisis, they have employed one hundred people, and with each new contract, there will be new hiring.

In response to a journalist’s question, Minister Vrdoljak once again denied claims from some media that numerous letters were sent to Qatar, where a Croatian economic delegation stayed three weeks ago, to which there has been no response.

A letter, composed in the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be sent today or tomorrow, announced Vrdoljak, who expects feedback on the topics that will be discussed during the return visit of the Qatari delegation only then.

Regarding possible cooperation on gas supply and the construction of an LNG terminal on Krk, Vrdoljak stated that such a deal cannot be contracted in three weeks. A deal that will secure five billion cubic meters of gas for this part of Europe is not a deal where falsehoods can be spoken. We have communication and everything is proceeding as it should, concluded Vrdoljak.