Today is truly D Day as Croatia, on the basis of the government's national policy, has taken strong leaps towards a society of knowledge, Sanader said at the National and University Library at the presentation of the Croatian Technology Institute and the Croatian Business and Investment Centre. In attendance were numerous representatives of the academic and scientific community, the government, including science and economy ministers, and business people.
Sanader said Croatia had been moving at breakneck speed over the past 16 years which enabled it to keep up with other transition countries, despite the early 1990s war.
He highlighted the fact that in the World Economic Forum's competitiveness report Croatia had jumped from the 64th to the 51st place, and that of the nine pillars by which competitiveness was measured Croatia ranked among the top 50 countries according to three, including higher education and innovations.
Sanader said that meant the world had recognised what Croatia was doing in science and education.
He said that investing in those two areas was second in importance only to the population policy, because there was no point in building a knowledge-based society and economy unless Croatia solved the low birthrate issue. He announced the government would soon adopt a population policy.
Economy Minister Branko Vukelic said a mechanism of concrete measures was established today on how to merge knowledge and expertise into a quality process which would result in a concrete product and a knowledge-based society.
Science and Education Minister Dragan Primorac said the Croatian model of merging science and economy would succeed because it integrated the experiences of the US, Japan, Israel and Finland, countries which made great headway in this area.
Primorac wished teachers the best on World Teachers' Day, while Sanader congratulated Sanja Zupa from Split on being the first Croatian teacher to receive an ISSA certificate of excellence.