Speaking on behalf of the donor countries, Norway's Ambassador to Croatia Astrid Versto said that she was confident the project would help increase the efficiency of judicial authorities as the objective of the donation was to improve the quality of the judiciary in line with European standards.
The project was financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2009-2014, which Croatia joined in 2014 and which is jointly filled by Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, and their share accounted for 84.34% of the project value. The remaining part of the 5.3 million euro worth project was financed from the state budget.
The financial aspect of the works was managed by the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds while the operational aspect was covered by the Justice Ministry.
Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Zalac and Justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic attended today's opening.
Zalac announced that talks were underway with Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland regarding Croatia's needs for grants in the next financing period, worth 103.4 milion euro. "We are currently negotiating, I can't say more but the negotiations refer to the judiciary, particularly education programmes for judges, as well as projects concerning the economy, innovation, transfer of know-how and Norway's experience in fisheries, education and research and development. We also need infrastructure in the education system. The negotiations are continuing and should be completed by the end of the year," she said.
Bosnjakovic commended the project to improve the quality and efficiency of the judicial system through development of infrastructure and better administration, underscoring the importance of modern technologies in dealing more efficiently with complex court cases, particularly the importance of so-called e-files and the connecting of land registries and cadastres.