Opening a conference marking the completion of the CARDS project "Strategy and building the capacity for regional development," Minister Bozidar Kalmeta said that under the strategy counties would remain basic administrative and territorial units in Croatia.
Kalmeta said that the government would decide on the number of statistical regions at a later date and that counties would remain key partners in regional development policy along with the central government and local government units.
The ultimate goal of the strategy is to achieve even development of all regions based on real needs. The most developed area of Croatia is the City of Zagreb, with more than 15,000 euros of Gross Domestic Product per capita, as opposed to the eastern County of Vukovar-Srijem where per-capita GDP is 5,000 euros.
A functioning regional policy is also a foundation for the successful use of EU pre-accession funds and other structural and cohesive funds, Kalmeta said.
European Commission officials warned that the use of these non-repayable funds could have a negative impact on the economy, such as pressure on interest rates or an increase in the foreign trade deficit as a result of growing capital imports, and that for these reasons every country should make thorough preparations for them.
The head of the Regional Development Policy and Planning Department, Franka Vojnovic, said that the success of the strategy depended on the fulfilment of two strategic goals.
The first strategic goal is to build absorption and investment capacities in the regions and increase the effectiveness of regional socio-economic development programmes, while the second goal implies the establishment of a coherent legal framework and the development of the necessary institutional structures for the management of regional development policy.
Successful regional policy is expected to result in increasing competitiveness of the economy and living standards in all regions of Croatia.
Kalmeta announced that the government would also propose a new Regional Development Bill, which will provide for regional development management and prescribe a new model for identifying areas lagging in development.