ZAGREB, Sept 23, 2020 - The main objective of Croatia's economic policy should be to increase employment, and Croatia must make the transition from a holiday country to a great country for work, President Zoran Milanovic said on Wednesday while speaking at the Big Plans Day conference organised by the Lider weekly.
"We should strive to increase the share of highly educated people in the workforce because they are a key source of competitive advantage," the president said, adding that the Croatian society and economy needed to open up, because being closed led to being non-competitive and falling behind.
Commenting on the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in the first half of the year, Milanovic said that new possibilities were opening up now but an agreement had to be reached on what Croatia's new economic identity was.
He also said it was time Croatia focused on investment growth instead of personal consumption, adding that this should not be investment that mostly depends on EU funds, but greenfield investment that creates new jobs.
He warned that we should not be in a situation where the tax system stimulates rental activities and excise duties force production companies out of Croatia "no matter what they are producing, even if we do not like what they are producing."
"My vision of Croatia is a modern, innovative, open, healthy, green and sustainable country. That is the economic identity I will advocate during my term," he said.
Milanovic said that investment should focus on the sustainability of business models, adding that the European Green Deal was the basis for building economic competitiveness.
Diversification, sustainability, production, employment -- these are the goals on which we all must actively cooperate to ensure the growth of prosperity of our people, he said.
Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Coric said that 2021 would be a year of recovery, but also a year of correcting economic mistakes. The government thought, he said, that the country's dependence on tourism was its main mistake, so one of the main priorities of this government would be to deal with this issue.
The main task of the government's economic policy next year will be digital transformation and strengthening production capacities and digital transformation, he underscored.
According to Coric, Croatia should make use of its comparative advantages and increase its competitiveness, and a fast economic recovery is possible if everyone works together in synergy -- the government, entrepreneurs, the industry and the financial sector.
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