ZAGREB ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina) - A three-day regular annual conference of the Global Trade and Technology Network (GTN) for Southeast European countries, which is being held in Zagreb will discuss assisting and encouraging the economic
growth of companies via that programme which should increase job opportunities in transition countries in Southeast Europe.
ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina) - A three-day regular annual conference of
the Global Trade and Technology Network (GTN) for Southeast
European countries, which is being held in Zagreb will discuss
assisting and encouraging the economic growth of companies via that
programme which should increase job opportunities in transition
countries in Southeast Europe. #L#
The programme began in Croatia more than a year ago through the
Croatian Association of Employers (HUP), it was said at a press
conference on Tuesday held to mark the beginning of the
conference.
The GTN is a programme implemented by the US Agency for
International Development (USAID) and is directed towards
developing enterprise in developing countries by creating business
ties and building trading and investment opportunities in
countries that are involved in the project.
In the past two years the USAID has invested about half a million US
dollars into the project in this region. The project commenced in
1993 and since then it has realised more than 250 international
business transactions through four thousand concrete questions
relating to international business co-operation.
Along with the US, the programme is currently being implemented in
37 countries throughout the world. The countries in the region
involved in the project are Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Macedonia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania and Albania
without Slovenia and the Czech Republic because the programme is
earmarked for less developed countries, it was said.
HUP head Zeljko Ivancevic expressed satisfaction with the
implementation of the GTN project. He also expressed hope that it
would bring good results because it enables connections between
companies and the expansion of business contacts in the region but
outside it as well and 'compels' domestic companies to use the
Internet more in their business dealings.
Ivancevic stressed that this was one of few projects directed to the
private sector, claiming that the majority of similar projects were
earmarked for the public service.
The head of the project for Croatia, Anny Brusic, said that the
network consisted of more than five thousand companies, of which
two thousand were from the region and 430 from Croatia. She pointed
out that in the past two years, transactions were realised using the
network amounting to more than half a million US dollars.
Jock Conly, a USAID representative, as the main sponsor of the GTN
network claimed that his was one of the many mechanisms that the
USAID endeavoured to assist and promote economic growth in
companies and with that, to increase job opportunities in
transition countries in Southeast Europe.
"We believe that faster development in the economy in developing
countries and transition countries will be reflected in the
increased number of job opportunities and certain indicators point
to the fact that open economies are more susceptible to growth,"
Conly claimed.
The GTN executive director, Dan Kingsley, considers that the
project enables companies in growing economies the opportunity to
realise their business plans on the local, regional and global
levels. Our programme is directed to small and medium sized
businesses that often do not have access to the Internet and as such
are at a loss in obtaining certain business contacts, Kingsley
said.
(hina) sp it ha