Opening the plenary session, HGK President Nenad Vidosevic said Croatia had a huge deficit in the trade with the Russian Federation, but this deficit caused no concern given that Croatia, poor in energy sources, had to import gas, oil and other similar products from Russia.
In the first seven months of 2004, trade between Croatia and Russia totalled 512.6 million US dollars, with Croatia's imports coming to $464.5 million, and exports to $48.08 million. The import of energy supplies (oil, gas etc.) accounted for 90 percent of imports.
Croatia's dependence on Russian energy sources should be used for the further intensification of economic cooperation, and Croatia should offer a new spectrum of products to the Russian market, Vidosevic said, adding that Russian business people showed interest in the Croatian power sector and tourism.
Vidosevic said the HGK unequivocally supported the DruzbaAdria project on the construction of an oil pipeline from Russia through several European countries to Croatia.
After the plenary session, managers of the leading 40 Croatian and over 30 Russian companies from the metal, construction, tourism, textile, air traffic, leather and chemical sectors held individual meetings.