Addressing the event, Economy Minister Branko Vukelic said export was crucial for the national economy.
Giving figures to illustrate export and import trends in Croatia, Vukelic said that the coverage of imports by exports was 43 percent in 2004, while this percentage rose to 48 percent in the fiscal year 2005.
This export/import ratio should reach 50 percent provided that this positive trend continues, he said at the convention which pooled over 100 businessmen from the entire country who also operate on foreign markets.
The minister said that small and medium-sized businesses were now enjoying growing support and had been given six million kuna as one-off grants.
According to Vukelic, 40 million kuna has been secured for the automobile industry, and 20 million kuna for the textile and leather-processing industries.
The minister reiterated that there would be no success without investment in the know-how and technology.
The chairman of the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), which was one of the organisers of the Zadar convention, said that the export was the most complicated process for any entrepreneur which also required efforts to be made by the government and the state administration.
Anton Kovacev said that the HBOR supported exporters during the entire process, namely from the outset of the production to the export of products.
The incentives which the bank gave to exports in 2004 rose four and a half times as against 2003.
The amount of loans approved to exporters in the first nine months of 2005 was equivalent to loans approved by the HBOR for that purpose in the entire 2004.
The head of the Croatian Exporters' Association, Darinko Bago, said that the the Croatian economy exported eight billion dollars annually and that this was not a small amount. The exports asked the government to enahnce the support to them.