The director of Vukovar's Port, Tomislav Mihaljevic, said that last year 796,568 tonnes of various cargo was reloaded at the port, ranking 'Vukovarska Luka' as the third largest port in Croatia after the first two seaports of Rijeka and Ploce.
The river port in the eastern Croatian town employs about 130 workers, and in 2005 it received no state subsidy.
In 2006, it is planning to reload 850,000 tonnes of cargo.
One of major investment has been the installment of a 16-tonne crane which was obtained thanks to a donation of the Belgian Government and Croatia's regional development fund.
The director added that the company was also planning to invest 40 million euros in the next five years for the development of the eastern section of the port. Of that amount, 25 million euros should be ensured by the Croatian government and rest by the port.
Minister Cobankovic assessed that the river port in Vukovar should serve as an encouragement for the further development of this eastern county.
During his visit to the VUPIK company which employs some 1,000 workers, the minister commented on the government's plan to privatise this agribusiness.
In this context he said that the aim of the privatisation was not to ensure funds from the sale but to make it possible for the company to operate more efficiently.
The stock value of VUPIK is estimated at 563 million kuna.
The company director, Zoran Mudri, said that VUPIK's income in 2005 had been 210 million kuna with the profit coming to 10 million kuna.
Investment projects cost some 50 million kuna last year.
(1EUR =7.4 kuna)