ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - As a small country, Croatia can promote national competitiveness and prosperity not only by developing the economy and activating social capital, but also by enabling development of all its regions and
reducing the regional imbalance, the Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, Bozidar Kalmeta, said on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - As a small country, Croatia can promote
national competitiveness and prosperity not only by developing the
economy and activating social capital, but also by enabling
development of all its regions and reducing the regional imbalance,
the Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, Bozidar
Kalmeta, said on Wednesday.#L#
Opening the presentation of a two-year project, "Strategy and
Strengthening Capacity for Regional Development", which is financed by
the European Union through the CARDS 2002 programme, Kalmeta pointed
out that the balanced regional development of Croatia and creation of
a viable and competitive national economy imposed itself as a primary
national interest in Croatia's preparations for EU membership.
Kalmeta illustrated the unbalanced regional development with
demographic figures, the per capita GDP, the share of highly-educated
people and the unemployment rate.
Only five Croatian counties registered an increase or stagnation in
the number of inhabitants, while all the others were experiencing
depopulation, he said, adding that there was a growing number of
highly-educated people in Zagreb and several other major cities.
Figures show that the per capita GDP in the City of Zagreb was 66 per
cent of the EU average, while in Vukovar County it was only 22 per
cent. The unemployment rate in Istria is below the EU average, while
in Vukovar County it is five times higher than the EU average, the
minister said.
The government's goal of joining the EU requires meeting certain
commitments in the conduct of regional policies and regional
development management. The project presented today is expected to
define regional policy goals and propose steps for their achievement.
The implementation of the EUR1.4 million project started at the end of
October 2003. It is being coordinated by the Department for Regional
Development of the Ministry of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and
Development, and implemented by a group of companies led by the Dutch
firm ECORYS-NEI Consulting & Research in cooperation with Croatian
partners.
(Hina) vm sb