As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of April, 2019, through its subsidiary Sugarhill Investments B.V., the Croatian hotel group Arena Hospitality Group d.d. from Pula has concluded a framework agreement with MK Aviation Services d.o.o. to take over the "88 Rooms" hotel, a four star hotel in Belgrade, Serbia.

The completion of this transaction is of course still subject to certain steps and to the fulfillment of certain conditions, as they have stated from the aforementioned Croatian company.

"88 Rooms" is a modern, four-star hotel situated in a prime location on Takovska Street in Belgrade, close to the business district and close to the cultural attractions of the old part of Belgrade, including Knez Mihailova Street and Kalemegdan Park. The hotel boasts 88 modern and comfortable rooms and suites decorated according to Feng Shui rules, and other facilities include a bar, a restaurant, a fitness room, a massage room and four meeting rooms with a capacity of up to 200 participants.

With this acquisition, Pula's Arena Hospitality Group continues to expand overseas following its already established business model with the management of seven international hotels in Germany and Hungary, more specifically in Berlin, Nuremberg, Cologne and Budapest.

On this occasion, the CEO of Arena Hospitality Group d.d., Reuel Slonim, said: "It's a great pleasure to be able to present this acquisition, which, with the momentum of our current investments in our existing accommodation facilities, continues our [already] announced further expansion of our business to new areas in the major cities of the region of Central and Eastern Europe. By entering this new market and strengthening our hotel portfolio throughout the year, we're able to add more worth to the group's value and at the same time create additional long-term value for our customers and for our shareholders. With such moves, we're rapidly changing the existing high seasonality of business and we're growing into a dynamic, international hotel group with year-round business.''

The Arena Hospitality Group expects that the conditions required for completing the transaction will be met by the end of this year, after which, Belgrade's 88 Rooms Hotel will become part of the Arena Hospitality Group famiily and continue its business under the brand name "Arena Hotels & Apartments" under the new name of "Arena Hotel 88" .

The value of the transaction stands at 47 million kuna, which, together with the entire investment cycle, started after a public offer in mid-2017 exceeding a hefty price tag of 500 million kuna.

Slonim continued: "More than half a billion kuna's worth of investment after the public offer is underway, starting with an investment of 70 million kuna in the first Croatian luxury glamorous resort Arena One 99 Glamping in Pomer, the current investment of 128 million kuna in the Arena Kažela camp in Medulin, 53 million kuna in the reconstruction of the Art'otel Berlin Kudamm hotel in Berlin, 60 million kuna in the renovation of the Verudela Beach resort in Pula, and 190 million kuna in the complete reconstruction of Brioni in Pula, which will carry the Park Plaza brand and be positioned among the best hotels that hotel chain.''

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This Croatian startup from Zagreb is a real mix of classical and virtual mobile games, but also has an educational mission.

As Ivan Tominac/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of April, 2019, today, virtual games have replaced classic ones like ''Čovječe ne ljuti se'' (Ludo) or ''Monopoly'', but when classically associated with a digital game, you end up with a smart social game - Mundus.

A passionate love for technology is shared by three students from Zagreb. They all came together two years ago, and their project is Mundus. Social games are undervalued today, these guys agree, and although industry experts might say that their project isn't in demand in this day and age, the fact is that they entered the startup world directly from their school desks and are learning in parallel with the development of the project.

"We had to combine what was unknown knowledge to us back then. But given the fact that we love to learn and to develop technology, it wasn't difficult for us,'' stated of Mundus's members, Filip Hercig, who was the one to kick off the project initially.

The idea for Mundus was quite spontaneous back at the end of 2015 when Hercig, who is now in charge of business development, showcased the very first concept of this clever game during a competition for young technicians and young entrepreneurs. The name changed several times - at the earliest stage it was called ''Zabavan put Hrvatske'' (A fun journey of Croatia) and then ''Svijet na dlanu'' (The world in your palm), before taking on its current name.

"In the summer of 2017, when we came to the CROZ company to develop our ideas, we decided to shorten its name from Svijet na dlanu down to just Svijet, but as it didn't sound good, we decided to translate into Latin, and that's how Mundus began,'' said Filip Hercig.

It seems that Mundus isn't just your regular type of game, and the focus of the project today is on the application of this technology within the scope of formal education. It's actually an educational system, and the game is just one of the solutions the Mundus team is working on. A mobile device acts as a kind of gaming agent, where players choose the theme for the game and launch a quiz, and everything else is played on the game's board, like with classic games before the Internet age.

Things became much more serious for this Croatian startup back in September of last year, when they won the Good Game Liftoff startup competition.

"They chose us as the best startup and besides giving us their trust, they also gave us 100,000 kuna. We can't forget to mention the Good Game Global company that actually organised the competition and raised all the funds for that prize,'' added Hercig.

After winning the Good Game Liftoff, this Croatian startup managed to secure numerous collaborations, is currently working with 48 schools across the Republic of Croatia, and interest in the game has stretched far beyond the borders of the country, and even beyond the borders of the EU and the European continent.

"There's interest on the Australian and New Zealand market, specifically in the education sector. We're currently conducting tests that are a prerequisite for serious moves in these markets,'' said Hercig. Mundus is actually still a non-profit organisation, explained Hercig, and in 2019, it should turn into a real company.

"We're oriented towards cooperating with educational institutions, but of course we're not closing the door to purchase options for private users. We've got potential there tool, and in order to best explore the mass market, we plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign in September 2019,'' concluded Mundus' Filip Hercig.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Ivan Tominac for Poslovni Dnevnik

The economic situation in Croatia is far from promising, and with more and more Croats flocking to Western European countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, it seems that the country's massive staff shortages and concerning demographic crisis aren't about to be over any time soon. 

However, just how much milk and honey really flows through the rivers of Western Europe, or is it all just a myth? Having been raised in the UK and having lived in Croatia for years now, I can quite confidently state that neither milk nor honey can be found at least in the British isles, and while the economic conditions are indeed more stable and safe, the idea that huge wage packets and a perfect life are waiting for you when you step off the plane in London is farfetched, to say the very least.

Wages typically (not always, of course) match the cost of living, and when you need to pay over £100 for council tax per month and have your heating turned on for several months per year to cope with the cold temperatures and miserable weather, suddenly that fatter pay packet doesn't seem as appealing as it did at first.

As Croats from all corners of the country continue to go and try their hand abroad, thanks to Croatia's accession to the EU and the freedom of labour, many are faced with shocks which only longer than three months in their newly adopted Western European countries can show up.

As Novac writes on the 27th of April, 2019, Marko Mihaljević, a 27-year old Croat with a Masters degree, went from Babina Greda in Vukovar-Srijem County (Eastern Croatia) to the bustling German city of Frankfurt seven months ago, and managed to get a job in construction. He is one of the very many young Croats who haven't been able to find a job in Croatia, so they placed their hopes and dreams for a better future in the hands of one of the Croats' favourite countries to go and seek work - Germany.

However, just like in the United Kingdom, there are no rivers flowing with milk and honey in Germany either, and Marko soon found that out for himself.

"I thought it would get easier in time, but everything's harder," Mihaljević explains in a short Facebook video he posted in which he discusses the matter.

He shared his experiences of leaving Croatia and working in Germany via the aforementioned Facebook video, and told his fellow young Croats still in Croatia not to go abroad if they weren't absolutely sure of everything, because he himself thought things would be very different.

''I'm spending my days doing this job. I'm not trying to throw anyone under the bus, nor am I trying to talk badly about any job, because I've never underestimated anyone in my life, but I'm doing a job for which I don't even need a primary school education. Having a Master's degree sounds nice, but I've got to break my back here from morning til night for my bare existence because that's [gaining respectable employment with a Master's degree] not allowed in Croatia. Why is it not allowed? Because I'm not in any political party,'' Marko stated bluntly.

He says he's angry that as a man with a Master's degree, he has to work in the construction industry, but he currently has no choice,'' writes Fenix ​​Magazine.

Make sure to follow our dedicated lifestyle  page for much more on the Croatian demographic crisis and the mass exodus of Croats to Western Europe.

The Croatian fruits and vegetables are being sold through the FinotekaDostava.com website, in order to successfully cut out the middleman.

As Miroslav Kuskunovic/Agrobiz/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 27th of April, 2019, Croatian fruit and vegetable producers, as well the producers of other Croatian value-added products, have begun to use the benefits of the common EU (single) market and the ability to place and sell products in Austria and Slovenia, for now. On the FinotekaDostava.com website, customers from Croatia, Slovenia and Austria are able to order products from Croatian OPGs from the comfort of their own homes. Once ordered, the produce is freshly and carefully packed and delivered to their addresses directly from Croatia.

"Finoteka's specificity is that we don't store our fruit and vegetables, but we function with the ''from the field to the table within 24 hours'' principle. This literally means that some fruit or vegetables that are growing right now in a garden in Croatia are going to be sent out in package delivered to someone's doorstep in Vienna, Ljubljana or Zagreb the next day,'' said Hrvoje Kolman, the owner of Finoteka Dostava.

Kolman has been placing and selling products from Croatian OPGs since back in 2008 in this manner. However, his website first became the most well known a few years ago when, through his search engine, a huge amount of fruit from the Neretva Valley ended up being sold and sent throughout Croatia when a ban on exports of agricultural products to Russia from the EU was first introduced.

"Our delivery is as good on the islands as it is on the mainland. The quality of the service and the delivery speed is the same regardless of whether you live in the city or in the most remote place. All our fruit and vegetable packages arrive within 24 hours of harvest, whether you're in Croatia, Slovenia, or anywhere in Austria,'' says Kolman. He explained that the Austrian market has been being tested over recent months, while they have been present on the Slovenian market for more than a year now.

"We deliver about 100 packages per month to Slovenia. Asparagus have been doing well these days, and strawberries, cherries and other fruits and vegetables will begin soon,'' says Kolman.

The prices of Croatian quality products are, however, slightly lower than those on sale in Slovenia and Austria, which is why it is expected that such sales from Croatia could become very attractive indeed. Croatian farmers deliver their products to Finoteka, the products are carefully reviewed, and depending on the order, they're packed on that same day and then sent out. Croatian farmers get to cut out the middleman, and consumers don't have the worry of eating food which is of unknown origin, it's also GMO free, it hasn't been stored, and it hasn't been sprayed.

"It's very important for us to know who we're cooperating with. We choose good producers above all, those to whom agriculture isn't just a business but also a pleasure. We choose those whose eyes shine when they talk about their products. Finding and selecting such people is are biggest challenge," says Kolman.

Make sure to follow our dedicated Made in Croatia and business pages for more information on Croatian products, Croatian companies and OPGs, Croatian services and much more.

Click here for the original article by Miroslav Kuskunovic/Agrobiz on Poslovni Dnevnik

Next week, a delegation of eighteen people from the largest Chinese shipyard, the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, are set to visit Croatia's ailing Uljanik.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of April, 2019, this is the second day is the National Economy and Entrepreneurship Consulting conference, organised by the Ministry of Economy and Entrepreneurship in Vodice. Economy Minister Darko Horvat told N1 televizija that the Republic of Croatia ''wants to become a country of investment and development, even if it isn't there yet".

"What I do dare to say, and with full certainty, is that Croatia has an innovative network, we have to make every effort to create positive trends, but we can't expect a big boom in just one or two intensive years, but the trends are changing. What makes me happy is that our own accumulation which has been earned by entrepreneurs is slowly returning back into circulation, that this money is no longer sitting in banks, in accounts. This gives us the encouragement that we'll gain that momentum this year, too,'' Darko Horvat stated.

How much have the problems with Uljanik slowed the economy down?

"They stopped any acceleration. Given the fact that so far, we've spent nearly three and a half billion kuna on guarantees,'' Horvat said.

The Dredging and Maritime Management company, owned by the Jan De Nul Group, requires Uljanik to refund all advance payments plus interest on a dredger which is being built in the Pula shipyard, whereby a refund of part of the advance has been secured by state guarantees. Such an outcome could cost the Croatian state almost one billion kuna.

"The contracted period is seven days, but I'm not sure that will happen in that time because Uljanik has no liquid funds and we'll have to continue talks and negotiations with Jan De Nul. And Mr. De Nul is aware that these talks end up going nowhere if he decides on the forcible charging of advances, he's aware that the shipyard in Pula isn't ready to complete that vessel. 

If the Chinese do decide to invest in Uljanik, then there are two variants, Horvat said: "to enter as a strategic partner, or to buy one shipyard, and the other, and become the 100 percent owners."

The court decision in Pazin has, for the third time, postponed the bankruptcy hearing for Uljanik. 

"Regardless of the court's decision, we'll continue talking with the Chinese," Horvat said.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for more on Chinese investments in Croatia, Chinese-Croatian business relations, Chinese projects in Croatia and much more.

What with all the stories about the ailing Uljanik and 3 Maj shipyards in Pula and Rijeka, the dire situation with the seaplanes, and even the old sagas about the plight of the former Agrokor, which is now of course Fortenova, we often forget about one of the most strategically important companies there is in this country - Croatia Airlines.

While news of the seemingly rather unpleasant impending fate of Croatia's shipyards and shipbuilding industry circulates and dominates the media, news about Croatia Airlines and its very internal struggles tends to get buried. The reality, however, is that Croatia's flag carrier is very much in hot water and has been for a considerable amount of time now, with a much needed strategic partner still apparently nowhere to be seen, it's hard to imagine that Croatia Airlines is heading in a good direction, even with its record numbers of passengers but continual posting of losses.

It seems however, at least for now, that Croatia Airlines' many financial woes might have been lifted with the choosing of a financial advisor to help with the model of the airline's recapitalisation.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of April, 2019, the chosen consortium should soon propose a model for the recapitalisation of Croatia Airlines, as well as the seeking of a strategic partner.

The committee for the preparation and the implementation of the procurement procedure for financial advisory services for the elaboration of Croatia Airlines' recapitalisation model and the finding of a strategic partner (yes, that's quite the mouthful), has decided on the selection of a financial advisor, and the offer of a consortium including Privredna banka Zagreb and DVB Bank SE, has been chosen. 

The consortium was chosen in strict accordance with the national plan for reform 2018, and deliver financial advisory services to Croatia Airlines with regard to the proposal of a model for the air company's recapitalisation, as well as seek a strategic partner.

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''For the start of cooperation between Croatia and the USA, Međimurje County is perhaps the best place for some new opportunities,'' stated US Ambassador HE. W. Robert Kohorst on Wednesday in the continental Croatian town of Čakovec.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 25th of April, 2019, the visit began with a working meeting in Međimurje County, Božena Malekoci-Oletić said for Međimurske Novine. The US Ambassador visited the Međimurje Polytechnic where he attended the marking of the eleventh anniversary of the Polytechnic, the Technological Innovation Centre, and he also met some of Međimurje's young basketball players.

American Ambassador Robert Kohorst, together with the Prefect of Međimurje County, Matija Posavac, addressed the present representatives of the media.

The American Ambassador said that the US Embassy is working on a program to connect different American companies to the companies here in Croatia. Over the next six months, certain measures and suggestions on how to achieve it will be implemented. The most important thing is to feel welcome in an environment where it's easy to do business without too much bureaucracy.

He expressed his satisfaction with Međimurje's attitude that every problem can be solved. He stressed that this is the most important thing that can be done to attract investors. What is equally important for potential investors is a well-educated and cooperative workforce who are ready to engage in work. In such an environment, companies are more than happy to do business.

"I like the way you work and prepare for investments and for the companies coming from the United States, and we'll try to present this story to the American companies,'' Kohorst stated.

Međimurske Novine asked Kohorst what the special reason for his arrival to the smallest Croatian county was all about.

"I heard it was the most beautiful county, and mayors have told me that the towns here were the most beautiful,'' Ambassador Robert Kohorst diplomatically. But afterwards, he added that he was not a career diplomat, but that he's there for business reasons and putting business cooperation at the forefront is his aim. He added that cooperation between the US and Međimurje County was a great start for new opportunities.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more.

Although the Croatian economic situation isn't the most promising one in the world and you’ll encounter and many young people are leaving the country in search of better future, not everything is as bad as the news might suggest.

Croatia is full of young, driven, educated and ambitious individuals who want to create something for themselves in their own country by founding startups.

On a very long list of successful Croatian startups, TalentLyft, is a name you should remember. It was recently recognised as the best Croatian startup by Global Startup Awards. EU-Startups, the leading online publication with a focus on startups in Europe, has also found TalentLyft to be the most promising Croatian startup you should look out for in 2019 and beyond.

Founded in 2015 in Zagreb by two developers, Mario Buntić and Nikola Biondić, TalentLyft is a startup that developed a recruiting software that modernises and simplifies the recruiting process, in other words, it is a recruiting tool that helps companies find, attract and hire the best talent. It offers both recruitment and marketing solutions to attract the best candidates, and an applicant tracking system to solve post-application problems such as effective candidate communication, a database with all the applicants and their profiles, candidate assessment kits and scorecards, and interview scheduling all in one place.

Today, TalentLyft boasts thirteen full time employees and is currently located at Technopark (venue for startups at Velesajam).

In a brief interview with Total Croatia News, they revealed that startup life in Croatia isn't easy. There are many barriers to overcome in order to enter the market and start a business, starting from bureaucratic conundrums to finding capital investors, which is difficult to do in this environment. There is not much support for small firms and startups, so you’re very much on your own. Instead of focusing on new, promising sectors such as IT, the Croatian Government still invests in outdated industries.

Times and job markets are changing, and so should their investments.

‘’There's always a solid chance that your product will fail,'' they say. The startup life is risky, challenging and uncertain and requires a lot of hard work, devotion, persistence and compromise. However, despite, or exactly because of that, working in a startup offers a unique chance for personal and professional skill development and career advancement. When you are a small startup, you need to deliver a game changing solution and product in order to compete with the big guys. The only way to do that is by having all of your employees constantly learn new things, experiment and innovate.

‘’Since TalentLyft is a small group, every employees’ opinion is important; changes are embraced rapidly making us more agile’’, they state.

They are also proud of the fact that they're working with latest technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning, emphasising the fact that their employees’ knowledge needs to be up to date and that you can lose good people if they’re stuck working with old technologies.

‘’Yes it’s the employees’ responsibility to keep learning, but it’s our responsibility to provide them with the tools necessary for that,'' they state from this Croatian startup.

They love the fact that they are a small team because it means there's a better connection: ‘’You know everyone by their name, you work hard together, you share your struggles and the laughs, and you get the chance to build something from the ground up.’’

The startup life is for those who embrace challenges, seek new ways of doing things, and question the status quo.

‘’When you manage to gather together a group of people like that, every day feels like an adventure and there is no challenge you can’t tackle in the end.’’

Let's hope we'll see more examples like this across Croatia in the near future.

Follow our dedicated business page for more information on Croatian startups, Croatian companies, products and services, and doing business and investing in Croatia.

When it comes to results, Croatia's Include published an impressive 115 percent growth in revenue in the first quarter of the year, and an average selling price growth of almost 40 percent.

As Tomislav Pili/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of April, 2019, one of the main stars of the Croatian startup scene, entrepreneur Ivan Mrvoš, is continuing to impress. Just two years after Include's first capitalisation through Funderbeam, recapitalisation is about to happen again, aiming this time at almost ten times the amount. Before today's public announcement of the campaign, Include's main man revealed that his company, which is a top Croatian manufacturer of solar powered benches, is collecting part of the finances through Funderbeam while the other part will be provided by private investors.

"After the successful first round of investment back in 2017, when we raised about 3.5 million kuna with a 30 million kuna valuation, we decided to enter a new round of recapitalisation. We didn't set a fixed amount, but we expect that the investment will be at least 20 million kuna, with the potential to reach approximately 30 million kuna. As for Funderbeam's part of the investment, we're expecting to raise about 10 million kuna through the platform,'' said Include's boss Ivan Mrvoš. At the moment, he has secured about 10 million kuna from the Funderbeam platform and is actively discussing the additional funds with several potential investors, including private individuals and venture capital funds.

"Right now, I can't say which investors are involved, but they're people who have led or are currently leading various Croatian industries, which we consider to be a significant indicator," he pointed out. When asked how much shares in Include now sell for and how much the company is valued at, Include's founder explained that things are a bit different now than they were back in 2017.

"The company has four years of business behind it and some remarkable results have come to fruition, so we decided to hire one of the companies from ''The Big Four'' to do a valuation. What I can say is that it was a very intensive process that lasted for several months, and the company was estimated at 110 million kuna last week,'' says Mrvoš.

"The company ended last year with a positive result, and we also continued things successfully during the first quarter of this year, with 60,000 kuna of net profit," Mrvoš revealed.

The collected money will certainly go into the development of existing markets, but also to conquering new markets.

"We intend to strengthen our presence on existing markets and continue to build a global distribution network. In addition, we're beginning with the development of new products that will be complementary for the existing markets, and intended for those same markets, and we'll also get some more advanced equipment for our development and production activities,'' explained the talented young entrepreneur.

The trading of Include's tokens at Funderbeam was stopped on April the 1st this year due to campaign preparation, and the latest market price is 3.5 euros. The director of Funderbeam Damir Bićanić explained that the price of the shares will not be one euro as they usually are in Funderbeam's campaigns, but higher, meaning more specifically that they'll reflect the company's new valuation.

The leading investor, as was the case in 2017, will be Ivana Šoljan who says that Include will certainly pass at least one recapitalisation, and "hopefully maybe go to the stock market in the future.''

"Mr Ivan Mrvoš and his whole team have advanced tremendously. Organisationally, they did well, they wrote regular reports to investors, they're not late with deliveries, they plan things smartly - they're ready for a new round,'' concluded Šoljan.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business and Made in Croatia pages for much more.

Click here for the original article by Tomislav Pili for Poslovni Dnevnik

Just how important is Croatia on the Chinese investment map?

As Iva Grubisa/Novac writes on the 21st of April, 2019 China's investment in European Union countries has grown steadily over the past ten years, and the European Commission (EC) has recently referred quite openly to the Chinese as a "systemic rival" and "a strategic competitor," the BBC reports.

The European Union has thus introduced a new mechanism for the strict overseeing of foreign investment, in order to promptly react should they assess that foreign investment could harm the security of EU member states.

According to the EC's report, a third of total EU assets are in the hands of foreign companies and 9.5 percent of companies in the EU have owners based in China, Hong Kong or Macau. When compared with 2007, when this share was only 2.5 percent, it's a significant increase, although the share of European business in Chinese hands is still relatively small. By comparison, back at the end of 2016, 29 percent of EU companies were controlled by Americans and Canadians.

Chinese investment in Europe reached its peak back in 2016, when it amounted to an enormous 37.2 billion euros, followed by a visible slowdown.

"This is mainly a result of stricter control over Chinese capital, but also changes in the global political climate when it comes to China's investments,'' explained Agatha Kratz of the Rhodium Group for the BBC.

Just where are the Chinese investing the most? Although a recent visit by a large Chinese delegation has been accompanied the news of the growth of Chinese investment and ambitions here in Croatia, according to the Rhodium Group, the Republic of Croatia is not even in the top ten countries in which China is the biggest investor in terms of capital.

Between 2000 and 2018, most Chinese investments took place in the largest European economies, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and France. The top ten were ranked in the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland.

According to Bloomberg's survey last year, they have owned or used to own shares in four European airports, six naval ports, and as many as thirteen football clubs.

Nevertheless, one must not forget the new big Chinese project, the Silk Road, known as the "One Belt, One Way" Initiative, in which the Chinese plan large investments in European infrastructure to strengthen trade links between China and Europe. Croatia is along that ''road'', and therefore the Chinese are investing in Rijeka Port, the Rijeka-Karlovac railway, mentions of investments in Croatian airports have been floating around, and there's almost no need to mention the fact that the Chinese are building Peljesac bridge, although its cost is mostly paid for by European Union funds.

The Chinese are also investing in Croatia's neighbouring countries, building roads and railways in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even in Northern Macedonia. In addition, Montenegro, as Novac.hr reported earlier this week, provided part of its state territory as a guarantee for the repayment of credits for the construction of part of the Bar-Boljari motorway to the Chinese Exim bank.

Since Montenegro has less of a chance of repaying this loan, it's not an entirely unbelievable option to remain without part of the state's territory, as bizarre as it might sound at first, and in that context, it's possible to understand some Croatian fears about entering into partnerships with the Chinese. This example is often cited as a warning to European countries to be extremely cautious when concluding economic agreements with China, to make sure they don't eventually fall into becoming a slave to the debts.

Trump's administration is much more closed to Chinese investment activities in the United States, and the authorities of other non-EU countries are much more cautious in entering into such partnerships, especially in the areas of telecommunications and defense. In any case, positively or negatively, China is certainly an extremely important player in Europe.

Make sure to follow our dedicated business page for much more on Chinese presence in Croatia. Chinese investment in Croatia, Chinese projects in Croatia and more.

Click here for the original article by Iva Grubisa for Novac/Jutarnji