"Medjimurje (region) and local politicians have realised that the Schengen regime on the border with Slovenia and Hungary is not an obstacle but an advantage, as confirmed by the excellent transborder cooperation between the county authorities and municipalities and cities in Hungary and Slovenia," Mesic said at the session, adding that Medjimurje was rightfully known as Croatia's northern gateway.
Answering questions from the press afterwards, he said Croatia's economic policy should be oriented towards exports and not imports, which is currently the case".
Asked to comment on Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's economic policy, Mesic said the door was still open to the European Union's pre-accession funds but that many did not know how to exploit that opportunity because "they don't realise that this is one of the basics of Croatia's faster economic development".
Also attending the session, besides local officials, were Environmental Protection, Zoning and Construction Minister Marina Matulovic-Dropulic as Sanader's envoy, the ambassadors of Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, and Turkey, and leaders of the Euro-region Mura-Drava, which is chaired as of this week by Medjimurje County prefect Josip Posavec.