Minister Gordan Maras underlined the importance of cooperation as part of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), which involves 14 countries with more than 115 million inhabitants and which are creating a second macroregion in Europe.
Those countries are Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova.
Maras underlined the need to link innovations and SMEs to strengthen the competitiveness of the sector.
The Croatian government wants to create a better infrastructure, better financing, and reduce administrative barriers for SMEs.
Assistant Foreign Minister Hrvoje Marusic underlined the importance of strengthening cooperation between science, the economy, and education.
He said competitiveness should be based on know-how, and that the EUSDR was a good instrument for the cross-border linking of SMEs and economies.
The conference is an excellent opportunity for the science and economic communities as well as the public sector in the Danube region to connect, share experiences and know-how as well as launch projects, for example in energy efficiency, energy security and environmental protection.
Reporters asked Maras for a comment on launching or arbitration proceedings against Croatia by the Hungarian oil company MOL, to which he said that MOL should be asked for a comment.
He said the Croatian government wanted the Croatian oil company INA, in which MOL has a majority stake, to develop, and that it wanted the creation of new value in Croatia and investment in refineries.