Vidosevic said Russia was one of the world's economic superpowers and that its business people could use Croatia to enter the European market, adding that this could further intensify Croatian-Russian cooperation.
Croatia's export to Russia 20 years ago was five times bigger than today, Vidosevic said, adding that Croatia's forthcoming accession to the European Union would provide a perfect communication point between Russia and other European markets.
The ARB forum was organised by the Russian Embassy to Croatia and the ARB, with the support of the HGK's branch in Russia.
The forum focused on Russian banks in conditions of financial instability. It also drew the Russian ambassador to Croatia, the president of the ARB, representatives of the Russian central bank and other financial institutions from Russia.
The HGK's "Be CROative" exhibition was staged as part of the event. The possibilities of investing in Croatia were also presented to Russian business people.
The ARB is a non-governmental non-commercial organization established in Moscow in 1991. It comprises about 80 per cent of Russia's banks which hold more than 93 per cent of the country's banking assets.
It totals 701 members including 507 credit organisations that have 2,964 branches. The ARB represents the interests of both the biggest banks (all of the top 30 banks are the ARB members) and medium and small banks. Among the members are 55 banks with 100% foreign participation in the registered capital, 17 banks with foreign participation over 50% in the registered capital, 15 foreign banks’ representations and all of the Big Auditing Four are among the ARB members.