Vukelic was presenting his ministry's operational plan to boost small and medium-sized businesses in 2007, saying that the plan would be presented to the government this week. The purpose of the plan is to increase the competitiveness of Croatian products intended for export.
The government plans to set aside 29 million kuna for projects to raise competitiveness, nearly 6 million to promote entrepreneurship, 6.8 million for training, and 32 million for projects financing entrepreneurship.
Vukelic said he was pleased with the results achieved in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, noting that nearly 400 million kuna had been invested for this purpose in the last two years, which resulted in an increase in exports of 53.7 per cent.
"In the last three years 47,000 jobs have been created in this sector," the minister said. He added that small and medium-sized enterprises accounted for 99 per cent of the registered businesses in Croatia, employing 55 per cent of the country's work force and generating 44 per cent of GDP and 60 per cent of all Croatian exports.
(1 euro = 7.35 kuna)