ZAGREB, 7 Nov (Hina) - A two-day international conference on investment possibilities in Croatia started in the hotel 'Sheraton' in Zagreb on Thursday.
ZAGREB, 7 Nov (Hina) - A two-day international conference on
investment possibilities in Croatia started in the hotel 'Sheraton'
in Zagreb on Thursday. #L#
The conference, which gathered almost a hundred participants
(half of them from abroad), was welcomed by the Croatian Premier
Zlatko Matesa.
The head and one of the organizers of the conference,
executive director of the company 'Epic', Peter R. Goldscheider,
said in his introductory speech that Croatia, as a country of great
natural beauties and resources, had good economic future.
However, strategic investors were difficult to attract, since
the process of privatisation was a little peculiar, Goldscheider
said. Investors have to know what is expecting them, he said,
adding that companies from the portfolio of Croatia's Privatisation
Fund had a three-billion-kuna loss (around 860 million DM) last
year.
Goldscheider also spoke about Croatia's tourism and concluded
that the country's tourism was ten years behind its competitors.
Croatia's Premier Zlatko Matesa spoke about the economic
situation in Croatia. Croatia had an almost 0%-inflation and a
budget deficit of 2-3%. Its total foreign currency reserves
amounted to five billion dollars. There was a considerable fall of
interest rates, Matesa said, adding that the financial
reorganization of banks in cooperation with the World Bank and
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was under
way.
Croatia's external debt amounted to 25% of gross national
product, which meant that Croatia was a country with a low rate of
indebtedness and that at the same time it met all Maastricht
criteria, Matesa said.
Croatia would soon sign an agreement on a free trade zone with
Macedonia, and it was holding talks on free trade zones with
Slovenia and CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Association)
countries - Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
The policy of macroeconomic stability would continue, but the
Croatian government would pay special attention to financial
reorganization and privatisation in the coming period, Matesa said.
More and more foreign partners were investing in Croatia's
infrastructure - power industry, road construction etc., Croatia's
Premier said, adding that those projects were worth some two
billion DM.
This year's income from tourism amounted to two billion
dollars, which was 50% of pre-war tourism income, Matesa said,
adding that the government's next tasks were financial
reorganization and rehabilitation of the country's tourism.
(hina) rm jn
071423 MET nov 96