Business

ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 - The new shipping and intermodal service COSCO Rijeka Land Sea Express, connecting the northern Croatian Adriatic port to central Europe, was formally launched at the port's Brajdica container terminal on Monday. The shipping and intermodal service was organised by the largest Chinese company COSCO Shipping Lines and Ocean Rail Logistics, a company within the COSCO group responsible for rail transport. The service comprises a regular shipping line between Rijeka and the Greek port of Piraeus as well as rail services operating along the routes Rijeka-Budapest-Rijeka and Rijeka-Belgrade-Rijeka. By combining overseas and rail services under the…

ZAGREB, October 22, 2019 - European countries must strengthen cooperation in order to maintain Europe's technological sovereignty, the Croatian-German Economic Forum heard on Monday, with Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat saying that Croatia was ready for the first big investment in the auto industry. The forum was organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and the German-Croatian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. It brought together representatives of 60 Croatian and German companies from the service, energy, transport, finance, tourism and telecommunication sectors. Horvat said the Croatian economy was continually growing by 3% but that it was not enough. In…

As Glas Istre/Chiara Bilic writes on the 22nd of October, 2019, although the preliminary solution for the future investment is not yet complete, Ivica Salvador from Stanoinvest points out that nothing will go beyond the plans of the City of Pula. For now, all of the features that will be the fruit of this investment remain unknown, but according to financiers, other than apartments, the area will receive shops and a nursery. At the beginning of 2021, part of the area above the Port of Delfin in Pula will take on the outline of the residential area. Ivica Salvador, the…

When reading about economic and general business activity in Croatia, the headlines are for the most part bleak, but that isn't always the case. With digitisation comes a new wave of innovation, which involves entrepreneurs and fast-growing technology. Despite all of Croatia's woes, this little country has a lot of talent to boast about when it comes to this segment. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 21st of October, 2019, given the fact that he has grown up with computers since the age of thirteen, this Vukovar-born technology expert knew that he wanted to have his own software company, and…

October 21, 2019 - The 3rd Adriatic Health, Sport & Tourism Investment Forum kicked off at Hotel Westin in Zagreb with a very high-profile audience on Day 1.  As renowned medical tourism speaker Dr. Prem Jagyasi put it as he moderated one of the panels on the first day of the Adriatic Health, Sport & Tourism Investment Forum in Zagreb: "I have been to 65 countries and spoken at countless health tourism conferences, but this is the only one which combines health tourism with investment. That is what makes it unique." It seems that Dr.Prem, one of a number of…

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - Croatia's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry generates revenue growth every year, and as an industry of the future it can set in motion serious changes, a National Trade Association (NTA) summit of DigitalEurope, the organisation that represents the digital technology industry, was told in Zagreb on Monday. The summit, hosted by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), is taking place on Monday and Tuesday and has brought together the chief executives of its member organisations. Zagreb was chosen because Croatia assumes the six-month rotating European Union presidency on January 1 and because the HGK…

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - Croatia recorded a consolidated general government budget surplus of 992 million kuna in 2018, which is 0.3% of GDP, which is the second year in a row that a budget surplus was generated while the public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was reduced to 74.8%, according to the revised figures released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS). The report on the Excessive Deficit Procedure and general government debt to GDP released on Monday indicates a consolidated general budget surplus in 2018 of 992 million kuna or 0.3% of GDP whereas in…

ZAGREB, October 21, 2019 - Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat and his visiting German counterpart Peter Altmaier on Monday met in Zagreb for talks on boosting bilateral economic cooperation, notably in the fields of the car industry, industry 4.0 and innovations. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Minister Horvat described Germany as the most important bilateral economic partner and said that in 2018 Croatia-Germany trade was 5.4 billion euro. Horvat said that Altmaier's visit to Croatia ensued a few days before his planned presentation of Germany's new industrial strategy whereby Germany wants to make headway in industry 4.0, and…

As Novac/Tena Sarcevic writes on the 21st of October, 2019, she isn't even 33 years old, and in just two years, Dragana Lipovac from Zagreb, has managed to get a company on its feet that has attracted around 300,000 euros in investments. Her startup, Hubbig, has succeeded in what she sees as the main point of such companies - "to shake off the established postulates of certain industries." The industry where Dragana works is the freight forwarding company. She joined the industry at the age of nineteen and gained eleven years of experience in two companies. She realised that there…

October 21, 2019 - Slavonian oak is among the best in the world and particularly sought after by the wine industry. And now Slavonian oak barrels are being made once more in Croatia.  The first time I heard about Slavonia was back in 1996. I had no idea that it was in Croatia, and my introduction to the region was due to one of its finest products - Slavonian oak. In my new job as a wine merchant almost 25 years ago, I learned that the three most highly prized types of oak for ageing wines came from France, the…