Participants highlighted the importance of exports for Croatia as a contribution to its opening and adjustment to economic circumstances in Europe and the world.
The project "Croatian Export Offensive", launched by the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship with a view to strengthening the competitiveness of the Croatian economy and achieving a foreign trade balance, was presented at the gathering.
The aim of the project is to increase the number of exporters, change the export structure by increasing exports of products and services with greater added value, create clusters that will solely deal with exports, and boost domestic production.
In the first half of this year, the HBOR approved over a billion kuna in loans to finance exports, enabling an export turnover of about 900 million kuna, which was an increase of 125 per cent over the same period last year, the Chairman of the HBOR Board of Directors, Anton Kovacev, said in his opening remarks.
On behalf of the government, the conference was addressed by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Ante Zigman, who said that it was encouraging that this year exports were growing at a faster rate than imports.
During the conference, the HBOR signed a cooperation agreement with the Czech export credit agency EGAP and a basic loan agreement with Montenegrin commercial bank Komercijalna Banka Budva.