Pointing to a trend of growing investment in production, Vukelic said that the government wanted to increase investments in production, new technologies and export in the next two years.
Assistant Minister Slobodan Mikac said that foreign investment was constantly on the rise. In the period from 1993 to 2005, foreign direct investments amounted to close to USD 12 billion, which makes Croatia one of the advanced transition countries in this area, he added.
With foreign investment of close to USD 2,500 per capita, Croatia is ranked fourth among 25 Central and East European transition countries, including 10 new EU members.
Speaking about the structure of foreign investments, Mikac said that more than 55 percent of all investments were greenfield investments in production. Greenfield and joint venture projects together make up 81 percent of all foreign direct investments.
Austria and Germany continue to be the leading investors in Croatia, Mikac said.
Speaking about the impact of the Investment Promotion Law, Mikac said that more than 40 newly-established companies had used investment incentives, with the value of total investments being estimated at five billion kuna and job creation at more than 8,000 new jobs.
Speaking about entrepreneurship and free zones, Assistant Minister Ivan Bracic said that the overall investments in 235 entrepreneurship zones amounted to 225.8 million kuna. Currently active are 110 entrepreneurship zones, which employ 14,000 people.
Another 50 to 80 such zones could be put into operation in the next two years, Bracic said.
The news conference also heard about the CARDS 2002 project on the development of a business and investment environment in Croatia, and the CARDS 2003 project on the development of a system of free zones.
(1EUR = 7.4 kuna)