The 13th annual Zagreb VINOcom wine and culinary arts festival was opened yesterday, November 23, 2018 at the Esplanade hotel, HINA reported.
At the opening ceremony, more than 300 exhibitors of this year's VINOcom were welcomed by Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić who took the opportunity to express his hopes that the new Croatian wine law will right the wrongs of some past injustices, and financially unload domestic winemakers. In addition, Tolušić stated that his only goal in the winemaking sector is to make winemakers' more successful and their businesses more lucrative, assuring them that the Ministry of Agriculture would do its best to help them. He also said that thanks to its winemakers and top quality wines, Croatia is becoming a recognized enology and wine tourism destination.
In his statement to the media after the festival opening, Tolušić said that the new Croatian law is set to establishment four marketing and wine regions, announcing the decentralization of the wine-rating system as well as an increase in production control.
Following the minister's statement, Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Economy Dragan Kovačević said Croatia has a tremendous potential for wine growing, however, with annual production of 70-80 million liters of wine, and with our exports covering in value only 45% of imports, Kovačević concluded that we certainly cannot be satisfied.
He hopes that the new wine law, as a prerequisite for the growth of the winemaking industry, will soon result in positive changes, and act as a flywheel for the Croatian economy. Also, he believes that in the future, our gastronomic offer together with the wine industry will play a much greater part in building Croatia's tourism identity, contributing to the extension of the tourist season.
The participants of the 13th VINOcom festival were also welcomed by Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, and Ambassador of the Russian Federation Anvar Azimov, since Russia plays an important role at this year's VINOcom as a partner country.
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