Supporting the model of social-market capitalism, Mesic said that Croatia should strive towards higher living standards for its citizens. This model has two main goals - growth through increased exports and the reduction of social and economic inequality. The globalisation of the world economy imposes on Croatia the need to define a new development policy based on the growth of exports, Mesic said at the regional geo-economic conference "Small Countries and Challenges of Managing Economic Globalisation" in Zagreb on Thursday.
The conference was organised by the Geo-economic Forum (GEOFO) at Zagreb's "Opera" hotel.
GEOFO vice-president Jasna Plevnik said geo-economy meant that the government was using the economy strategically to achieve national interests on the global and regional levels.
Geo-economy advocates the creation of an active national globalisation strategy. A professional, competent and moral government is one which invests its efforts into benefitting its citizens first, and only then companies, Plevnik said.
She cited Malaysia, Japan, Switzerland, and Slovenia as countries which have been successful on focusing on the geo-economic policy.
The participants in the conference were acquainted with the Malaysian globalisation management model by ex-Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohammad.
By appropriately managing its economy and finance, Malaysia managed to grow and catch up with other countries, he said, adding that his country was careful not to incur too many debts, and the result of such a policy was an increase in the annual income per capita from 300 to 4,000 US dollars.
Malaysia welcomes globalisation and free trade, but is worried about how they are being interpreted, the former Malaysian PM said.
Competition is good, he said, warning that, as in sports, rivals had to be in the same category. Giant companies must not compete with midgets, he said, adding that underdeveloped and developing countries should be given time to develop their infrastructure, banking systems, etc.