Under the plan, at least one third of the sawn material is to be used in the national furniture-making industry and the number of employes should rise from the current 11,000 to 15,000 until 2010. The average income in this sector is projected to rise, too.
The Ivo Sanader Cabinet is going to finance the implementation of the plan with more than 200 million kuna. In addition to the said budgetary funds, favourable loans are to be ensured and over 1.7 billion kuna will be available from credit lines for this purpose. Some more funds are likely to be secured from European Union pre-accession funds.
Also today, the Government adopted a national strategy for creating an encouraging climate for the development of the civil society sector. The strategy contains guidelines for activities until 2011. In the next three months, the Cabinet will decide on institutions, time-terms and funds necessary for the implementation of the strategy.
Currently, over 29,000 associations are active in Croatia, and about one third of them are sports and leisure associations, Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said adding that this figure should be interpreted as Croatia being rich in civil society associations.
The Government drew up a bill regulating the establishment of the university in the northern coastal city of Pula.
(1 EUR = 7.25 kuna)