CETA will make it possible for Croatian producers and exporters to enter the Canadian market customs free or with minimum customs duties. That will enable the prices of their products in Canada to be reduced by five to 20 percent, depending on the product or service category, which will make them more competitive and acceptable to Canadian importers and distributors, Basic said.
The European Parliament ratified CETA on Wednesday, paving the way for the lifting of customs duties on almost all products in EU-Canada trade. The agreement was signed on October 30 last year.
Basic said that CETA could not guarantee direct benefits to Croatia, but was offering it a chance for development and to seize opportunities that would open up with the lifting of trade barriers.
Croatia will certainly be in a better position than its neighbours who are not in the European Union and want to trade with Canada, he said, adding that the sizeable Croatian community in Canada could play a role in increasing trade.
Basic said there was great potential for advancing economic cooperation between the two countries. Croatia is Canada's biggest business partner in the region and politically Canada perceives Croatia as a NATO partner and an EU member.
A lot of Canadian companies are considering expanding to the European Union and see Croatia as being ideal for expanding sales and production plants. Trade between Croatia and Canada has doubled in the last five years and CETA will help this growth to continue, Basic said.
Basic cited estimates according to which the EU-Canada trade agreement would result in over $4 billion in new revenues annually. If Croatia generated only one percent of that, it would be more than 300 million kuna worth of new deals. That figure is very realistic and it is up to Croatians to recognise and seize this opportunity, he said.