"Our certificate is an entry visa for 44 countries, not only for Qatar," Centre head Aziz Hasanovic said at a press conference held for the presentation of the Association.
Only products and services with the halal certificate can enter the Islamic market. The Certification Centre teaches about halal, certifies halal products and services, and promotes certified products and makers at halal fairs in Croatia and abroad.
In the next 100 days, Croatia plans to open its embassy in Qatar to give a new dimension to Croatia-Qatar relations, Croatian-Qatari Association president Danijel Koletic said, hopeful that one of the first priorities would be to ease the visa regime.
He said Qatar was a friendly country with big potential for economic cooperation which would organise the world soccer and handball championships and had recently applied for hosting the Olympics. It plans to build arenas and stadiums and will be the biggest construction site in the world in the years ahead, with opportunities for Croatian companies.
Koletic said the Croatian-Qatari Association was registered this month to promote trade, business relations, culture, sports and ecology between the two countries, and to prepare citizens for doing business with the Arab world.
He announced Qatar Airways was arriving in Zagreb, with the first flight to Doha scheduled for May 9. The trip, including a landing in Budapest, will last seven hours.