The strategy, dubbed the Croatian Export Offensive, aims to increase the number of exporting companies from the present 11,000 to 13,800 or 25 per cent, change the exports structure, increase the competitiveness of production materials and components for composite products, and establish six export clusters.
Addressing the convention, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said that Croatia should increase its exports if it wanted to have a successful economy, higher GDP growth, higher living standards and more jobs.
Stressing the important role of the know-how in economic development, Sanader said that Croatia should become a society based on knowledge.
The strategy provides for 29 measures whose main purpose is to deal with crucial problems preventing export growth, such as small capacities, fragmentation of production and lack of competitiveness, the Minister of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship, Branko Vukelic, said.
Vukelic said that his ministry alone had secured 24 million kuna (approximately 3.25 million euros) for the implementation of the strategy.
The project was devised by the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship in collaboration with the Croatian Exporters' Association, the Croatian Chamber of the Economy, the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, the Croatian Employers' Association, and the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development.