The forum was organised by the Croatian Economy Ministry, the French Embassy, the HGK, the Paris Chamber of Commerce, and the French-Croatian Business Club as part of the Rendez Vous Festival, which takes place in Croatia from May to September.
As many as 51% of those polled said France was the market where they wanted to do more business. France thus replaced traditionally most attractive markets for Croatian companies: Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, HGK official Mirjana Turudic said.
She recalled that in March, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Branko Grcic visited Paris and signed an Action Plan for the Strategic Partnership between the two countries, which facilitates cooperation between France and Croatia in a number of fields -- the economy, defence, science and education.
French Ambassador to Croatia Michele Boccoz said that with EU 1.37 billion invested so far, France was the seventh biggest foreign investor in Croatia. Most of the investments were made in the finance sector (Societe Generale, BNP Paribas), but investments were made in other sectors as well and Croatia today has 79 French companies with approximately 7,000 employees.
The ambassador also underlined currently France's biggest investment in Croatia -- the upgrading of Zagreb Airport.
HGK investment sector official Svjetlana Momcilovic said 2.2% of Croatia's exports goes to France, while of Croatia's overall imports 2.3% is coming from France.
Last year, nearly 445,000 French tourists visited Croatia and generated 1.65 million overnights, which is 2.7% of all overnights realised in 2014.