By a twist of fate, the editorial team of Lider has come into possession of an unpublished article by the Prime Minister. We present the most interesting excerpts:
‘One of the best ways to initiate a new cycle of economic growth and job creation in our country is to attract foreign investors – in this regard, I do whatever I can. Since 2010, I have been on trade missions around the world trying to bring foreign companies to our country. I have had tea in Beijing, Ankara, and Kuala Lumpur. Last weekend, I was in Kazakhstan, where I did not miss the opportunity to drink camel milk.
At home, my doors are always open to people like Li Ka-shing, the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, and Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Tata Group, as well as Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, the CEO of Masdar, a multinational company that invested more than several billion pounds in our country after our meetings. My message is always the same wherever I go and whoever I talk to: if you want to invest in a stable democracy where the rule of law prevails and property rights are respected, where taxes are low and investors are welcomed with a red carpet, come to us! You can call it selling – I will not apologize for that.’
Prime Ministers Bow to Investors If I have managed to deceive anyone into thinking that this is an article written by the current Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, I apologize! The author is British Prime Minister David Cameron.
He is not ashamed to admit that he is an ‘ordinary salesman’. He travels around the world helping British companies sign contracts for the supply of goods in foreign markets. Or he spends days hosting global hunters to persuade them to invest their billions in Great Britain. This is not about investing in some securities or derivatives on the London Stock Exchange, but about tangible investments that will create jobs for the army of young and politically dangerous unemployed people in the industrially devastated parts of England or other parts of the United Kingdom.
A similar job, he admits from time to time, is done by American President Barack Obama. His former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, upon leaving office, precisely listed about fifty official trips where she lobbied for specific and publicly named American corporations.
If everyone in Croatia should follow the examples of the best global practices, then the Croatian Prime Minister should also prioritize direct communication with potential investors. And at least one week a month, he should be a ‘commercial traveler’ for Croatian exporters.
Of course, this is not an easy job. It requires a lot of travel, spending hours and hours with often eccentric investors who are aware of their importance, and thus demand that even prime ministers bow to them. But if David Cameron can do it, so should Zoran Milanović.
