Croatia must go faster than comparable countries and to achieve that the Government has launched a number of projects which cut red tape and also helped the fight against corruption, said Sanader.
He highlighted a project aimed at improving the quality of education, which envisages extending obligatory education to include high school as of September 2007.
Sanader also recalled the government's entrepreneurial zones project, saying that 110 are in operation with 1,450 companies and 16,000 employees.
Speaking of challenges in the coming period, he singled out the fight against the grey economy which, according to trade unions' figures employs 400,000 people, and a population programme.
Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship Minister Branko Vukelic said the development of entrepreneurship was a precondition for opening new jobs and improving the standard of living.
Speaking of projects important for crafts and small enterprises, Vukelic mentioned micro-crediting and the encouragement of design, which he said was important for making Croatian entrepreneurs more competitive.
Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development CEO Anton Kovacev spoke of the increasing amounts approved for small and medium-sized enterprises, which went up from 500 million kuna in 2001 to 1.6 billion in 2004 to 2.6 billion last year. The amount approved in this year's first four months was 600 million kuna.
Kovacev said that funds for the stimulation of exports went up from 90 million kuna approved to small enterprises in 2003 to 500 million in 2004, 600 million in 2005, and 180 million in this year's first four months.
The Sibenik conference pooled some 600 participants.
(EUR1 = 7.3 kuna)