The forum was organised by the Hungarian Embassy, the Hungarian Investment and Trade Development Agency, and the Hungarian-Croatian Chamber of Trade and Industry.
When Hungary jointed the European Union in May 2004, the Croatian-Hungarian bilateral trade agreement was replaced by an agreement on trade issues between Croatia and the Union, which enables Croatian companies to export goods to the EU market, including Hungary, free of duty.
According to figures presented at the forum, about 1,300 Hungarian and 700 Croatian companies are engaged in bilateral trade, which went up 43 per cent in 2004 and 22.1 per cent in 2005.
Hungarian exports to Croatia between 2000 and 2003 doubled, went up 51 per cent in 2004 and another 25 per cent in 2005, according to the Hungarian Statistics Bureau.
Hungarian exports to Croatia amounted to USD574.2 million in 2005, while Croatian exports to Hungary were USD137.5 million, according to the Croatian Statistics Bureau, which said that Hungary's trade surplus was USD436.7 million.
Between 1993 and 2005 Hungarian investors invested EUR887 million in Croatia, while Croatian investment in Hungary amounted to EUR20.5 million, according to Croatian National Bank figures.