As of 2007, this new instrument will replace the CARDS, PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD programmes and assist EU accession candidates and potential candidates adjust to the Union's acquis communautaire.
Degert said the EU had secured EUR589.9 million for Croatia until 2010, an average EUR147 million per year.
Croatia will also receive EUR10-15 million annually for regional and horizontal programmes and the Taiex technical assistance instrument, he added.
Degert said Croatia's annual assistance could even exceed EUR160 million annually if it showed good absorption capacity.
The state secretary at the State office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds, Martina Dalic, said IPA was viewed as preparation for participation in EU structural funds to which a country is entitled upon joining the Union.
Assistance within IPA is divided into five components -- transition assistance and institution building, transborder cooperation, regional development, human resources development, and rural development.
The EC will make a final decision on the allocation of funds after Croatia draws up national plans for each component, Dalic said, adding that selected projects would partly be financed from the national budget.