EU accession is round the corner and brings European structural funds which have a lot of money and are crucial for investing in Croatia, said Slinn.
It's crucial that Croatia use those funds as much as possible, he added, underlining the importance of establishing effective absorption mechanisms.
Ariana Vela, director of the EU Projects company, which recently launched the first Croatian portal on EU funds, spoke about the experiences of Croatian organisations in EU direct funding programmes. The portal eu-projekti.info (http://www.eu-projekti.info/) contains all information about the matter, including all tenders.
Croatia is taking part in 16 EU direct funding programmes, of which the most important are the Seventh Framework Programme 2007-13 for research and innovation worth EUR 55 billion; the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme for small and medium enterprises worth EUR 3.62 billion; the Culture Programme; the Media Programme for the development of the audiovisual industry; the Lifelong Learning Programme; and the Marco Polo II programme for shifting freight transport from roads to rail, sea and inland waterways.
The seminar "EU Success Stories - Be Part of it!" was organised by the International Business Platform - Croatia, an initiative of the EcoGreen Europe company which aims to connect domestic and foreign companies, institutes, universities, the public sector and associations for the purpose of business cooperation.