ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - The furniture, interior design, and related industries fair Ambienta, featuring 125 exhibitors from nine countries, opened at the Zagreb Trade Fair Centre on Thursday.
The event, to last until Sunday, is the first one to be held at the Zagreb Trade Fair Centre after an 18-month ban on fairs, introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ambienta will be followed by the Interliber book fair.
Admission is free but visitors have to show an EU COVID-19 certificate or a negative test.
Opening the event, Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković said that the value of the wood-processing sector and furniture industry in Croatia was around HRK 14 billion and that it was a very important strategic industry.
Around 11% of workers in the manufacturing industry work in the wood-processing and furniture industries, she said, noting that despite the globally unfavourable conditions, export indicators were still positive.
The foreign trade balance in the sector in 2020 was €375 million, she said, adding that this was owing to the government's prompt action as well as a number of sector-specific measures.
She pointed to increasingly close cooperation between designers and furniture manufacturers, which, she noted, was the best way to increase added value and export competitiveness.
Attending the opening of the fair was also Deputy Mayor Luka Korlaet, who noted that the fair was one of the most important national events for the Croatian wood-processing industry as well as for the national economy as a whole.
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