RIJE – Yesterday, the headquarters of the Italian Community of Rijeka, Palazzo Modello, hosted the conference “Investment opportunities for SMEs in Croatia – Opportunities, financing and prospects for economic and commercial growth”, which focused on the importance of trade between the Veneto Region and the Istrian and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The initiative was coordinated by Teobaldo Giovanni Rossi, president of the Istrian-Venetian Chamber of Commerce CCIV, which was created with the main objective of promoting the development of trade between the two shores of the Adriatic, as well as strengthening collaboration between investors from the aforementioned regions, providing information and assistance in the internalization and export processes. The host was Roberto Palisca, president of the Executive Committee of the CI Rijeka, who greeted those present and introduced the president of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar Regional Council, Erik Fabijanić, who gave a brief presentation of the potential offered by Kvarner. “Our region is rich in potential and we offer investors excellent opportunities,” said Fabijanić, presenting the regional identity card and various economic fields favorable to investments. The Consul General of Italy in Rijeka, Renato Cianfarani, reiterated Rome's trust in Croatia. “I am here to represent Italy, a country that believes in Croatia. We believe in its potential, in its preparation, in its workforce and we believe that it has many resources that can be exploited. Therefore, there are many investment opportunities. Even if the economic period is not the most favorable, the opportunities are there. The time has come to strengthen our relationship even more,” said the Consul General.

Croatia is investment friendly Davor Šustar from Adriatic Business Consulting opened the presentations, presenting two advantages, from an economic point of view, that foreign companies have when they come to invest in Croatia. First of all, he mentioned the new Law on Investment Promotion (2012), which provides for a lowering of the threshold for accessing tax incentives and employment subsidies. For example, if an entrepreneur decides to invest 150 thousand euros on Croatian soil and hires five people, the taxation of his profits will drop from 20 percent to 10 percent. The second advantage is represented by the country's entry into the EU, because today companies can rely on European structural funds on the one hand, and on the other, they can count on 0 percent taxation for the tax on dividend distribution.

Two coasts, one goal The speech by Gian Angelo Bellati, Secretary General of Unioncamere del Veneto, aroused great interest from the public. He explained with numbers in hand the potential of commercial relations between the two shores of the Adriatic. “The real challenge of the European Union is played between the old Europe and the new one. As far as we are concerned, our challenge is the Adriatic. We must work together and network, because the potential is enormous,” said Bellati, recalling the numbers of the Veneto Region: 133 billion euros of GDP (9.4 pc at national level), 29.872 euros per capita, 450.299 active businesses, 6.6 pc of unemployed and exports that are around 51.1 billion euros. “Despite the crisis, these numbers give us courage and give us the opportunity to further strengthen our trade ties and investments in infrastructure, transport and tourism,” Bellati said, underlining the importance of the new cross-border network and the North Adriatic Ports Association (NAPA), which will be able to boost the economy if we are able to network and exploit the opportunities.

Work for minority youth Teobaldo Giovanni Rossi presented the Istrian-Venetian Chamber of Commerce CCIV. “This is a very interesting initiative. Businesses that come from Veneto to invest in Istria and Kvarner must have a reference to rely on, accountants, lawyers, assistance points, etc. This will be our role. We will ask businesses, when they go to hire new people, to check if there are people among our minority who are suitable for them, to avoid our young people going abroad to look for work,” Rossi explained. This was followed by the speech by Monika Brscic from the INFORMO Association (National Contact Point of European Projects Association), who presented the possibilities for entrepreneurs who have started a business to compete for European funds.

Excellent relations between the Regions The last speech was by the Councilor for Economy and Development, Research and Innovation of the Veneto Region, Marialuisa Coppola, who confirmed the excellent relationship between the Veneto and our lands. “I always return here with great pleasure, it is a land that I have always loved. Behind us we have excellent relationships that have given excellent results. It is therefore natural for our entrepreneurs to come and invest in a friendly land”, said Marialuisa Coppola, underlining the three strong points of the Veneto economy, which are aggregation, internalization and innovation. “We must grow together”, concluded the councilor. The organizers of the event were the Unioncamere del Veneto and the Regional Agency for Coastal-Mountain Development PORIN.

Marin Rogic, «The Voice of the People», 12/04/14

The Adriatic Observer