November the 26th, 2022 - Following a three year break, most of which was dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, the Croatian-Chinese economic forum made a return to Zagreb recently.
As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after being stricter than most of us here in Europe could ever even begin to imagine, China has announced new, slightly milder anti-epidemic measures, which due to the strict policy of "zero cases" have so far meant the absolute closure of the country to foreigners. Tourists still cannot enter China, but in order to mitigate the negative effects on the economy, China is opening up for representatives of multinational companies and of course - for foreign investors. At the same time, state banks will stand more strongly with local companies and China is once again starting a proactive campaign on numerous foreign markets.
As such, the Croatian-Chinese economic forum was successfully held recently here in the City of Zagreb, where about fifteen different Chinese companies conducted business B2B discussions with various Croatian companies. The last time such talks were held exactly three years ago, also here in Zagreb. Chinese companies' interest in doing business in Croatia has only grown after Croatia joined the EU back in summer 2013, and twenty Croatian companies have expressed interest in engaging in direct talks with Chinese businessmen. Mostly, on both sides, we're talking about companies from the agriculture and food industry, as well as those from the IT, energy, and tourism and real estate sector.
Some of the Chinese companies have chosen the Republic of Croatia as a location for their projects here in Europe, specifically Hainan Nanhai Blue Capacity Economic Development, a large economic system operating in various sectors from agriculture, electrical industry to high-tech manufacturing and shipbuilding. In Europe, namely, the company plans to start agricultural production in three countries - in the Czech Republic, Poland and here in Croatia, and the more specific goal is the production of animal feed, meat and meat products.
The company Xi'an TianLong Science and Technology offers cooperation in the research, the development and production of instruments and in vitro diagnostic reagents in the field of genetic testing and molecular diagnostics, and the company BGI Genomics, which operates in an impressive 100 countries, wants to directly establish cooperation in Croatia with medical and scientific institutions for the placement of their technology and research related to genomic sequencing. COFCO International, as a global platform of the Chinese food industry, wants to achieve cooperation in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Croatia.
Anshan Xingong Construction is a Chinese company engaged in the production of building materials, and it is currently examining the possibility of cooperation, and the possibility of overseas transport of heavy cargo with Croatia is being sought by representatives of the Chinese-Polish Joint Stock Shipping Company. Cooperation in the energy industry is being offered by CHINT Noark Electric, which markets its advanced solutions in 140 countries around the world. Ningbo Sanxing Smart Electric also wants to enter the Croatian market with its highly advanced solutions for electricity distribution and use systems, from smart metres, transformers and substations to chargers for electric vehicles.
The Croatia-Chinese economic forum also included representatives of the very well known Huawei Croatia, who want to strengthen their cooperation in the ICT infrastructure industry, and the company Shaanxi Zhongtuo Mine Equipment, which specialises in the development and sale of equipment in the construction of bridges, highways and tunnels, is looking for partners and representatives for the Croatian market.
The largest manufacturer of ball bearings, Xibei Bearing, also wants to explore the Croatian market. Imports from China have been growing strongly this year (amounting to a massive 889 million euros in the first eight months of 2022 alone) and greatly exceed Croatian exports (which weigh in at 62 million euros), which are dominated by raw materials and less processed products such as wood (making up almost 40% of exports) and marble and limestone, as well as construction carpentry. As for Chinese investments in Croatia, they amounted to 179.5 million euros back at the end of 2021.
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