October 19, 2022 - After the publication of the call for proposals by the Norwegian fund management, all interested parties will have two months to submit their applications, and the percentage of support will be determined depending on the size and location of the company, the type of investment, etc.

As reported by Poslovni, six million euros from the Norwegian financial mechanism will be available to Croatian entrepreneurs for investments in green technologies.

The company Innovation Norway, manager of the fund for the Business Development and Innovation Croatia programme, announced that in November, it will publish the third call for project proposals within the framework of the program financed by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism. The goal of the programme, which focuses on green industry innovations and "blue growth," is to increase competitiveness and encourage sustainable business operations in Croatian, primarily small and medium-sized enterprises.

A total of around six million euros will be available to Croatian entrepreneurs. Through the innovations of the green industry, they will be able to receive grants for the co-financing of innovative projects that contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing energy consumption, or saving other resources. Through the "blue growth" projects related to innovations in the coastal and maritime areas, the following will be co-financed - coastal and maritime tourism, maritime transport, fishing and aquaculture, marine waste and pollution, desalination, and other similar projects.

After the publication of the call, all interested parties will have two months to submit their applications, and the percentage of support will be determined depending on the size and location of the company, the type of investment, etc. Thus, for example, small companies that invest in equipment, depending on the area where they are located on the map of regional grants, will be able to receive up to 70 percent of grants from the total value of the project.

Large companies with a maximum of 25 percent public ownership can also apply but will receive a lower co-financing rate.

So far, 17 projects have been approved from this programme in the first call, and it is expected that another 21 projects will be approved in the second call.

Innovation Norway states that this programme for entrepreneurs represents a unique opportunity for cooperation, through access to new knowledge and modern technology with Norwegian partners, through partnership on projects, and other forms of collaboration.

More information on the possibilities of co-financing from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism can be found at www.innovasjonnorge.no/Croatiainnovation and by inquiry at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Business section.

ZAGREB, 27 July 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević on Wednesday held talks with a delegation of the German city of Mainz, led by Mayor Michael Ebling, focusing on cities' adaptation to extreme climate conditions and the development of new renewable energy sources.

The German delegation, which also included business people, visited Zagreb on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the two cities' agreement on cooperation.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Tomašević said that the green transition was one of the biggest challenges in all European cities in the context of climate change and extreme temperatures this summer.

Apart from the green and energy transition, the meeting between the delegations of Zagreb and Mainz also focused on the so-called models of civic energy.

"This is about encouraging the use of renewable sources of energy owned by citizens. Such a model exists in Mainz, where there are foundations and funds facilitating energy transition by citizens. This is politically important to us and we would like to see it also in Zagreb," the Zagreb mayor said.

Tomašević and Ebling discussed economic and cultural cooperation, IT sector development, modernization of the public transportation system and Zagreb's post-earthquake reconstruction.

Mainz is ready to help Zagreb with the post-earthquake reconstruction and is willing to provide a modest contribution to its reconstruction as a token of solidarity, Ebling said.

He noted that Mainz, too, was experiencing the consequences of climate change and heat waves, as evidenced by the fact that the river passing through the city has almost dried up.

Before leaving Zagreb on Thursday, the German delegation will also visit Zagreb's ZICER enterprise centre at the Zagreb Trade Fair Centre.

Ebling said the meeting discussed possibilities of investment in startup businesses.

Zagreb City Assembly chair Joško Klisović said there was a lot of political will the two sides wanted to transform into concrete projects to promote their cooperation. 

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 8 July 2022 - A Bosnia and Herzegovina-Croatia cross-border conference was held on Friday in Osijek on how to enhance the regional cooperation of Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia.

This is a project aimed at improving regional cooperation and exchange of experiences in the implementation of cross-border projects, which the Development Agency in Žepče, central Bosnia, is implementing in partnership with the County Development Agency of Osijek-Baranja County and 11 local self-governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina areas predominantly populated by Croats.

The director of the Žepče Development Agency, Branka Janko, underscored that the agency has been operating since 2010, and so far they have implemented three cross-border projects, which are mainly related to the competitiveness of the economy and the development of rural areas.

Every new acquaintance with regional agencies in Croatia is useful to us, and our goal, considering that it is mostly about rural areas, is to raise them to a higher level of development using EU funds, which will be opened for Bosnia and Herzegovina, said Janko, adding that they are interested in economy, tourism and renewable energy sources.

Žepče Municipality realised long ago that municipal budgets were not sufficient for faster development, said Mayor Mato Zovko and added that tit was a success when, as a small municipality, they managed to implement the third cross-border cooperation project - Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. These projects range from €600,000 to 1 million and 75% is financed by the EU.

We have strengthened the Development Agency so much and can hardly wait for Bosnia and Herzegovina to receive EU candidate status. With our example, we have shown other municipalities what it's like to be ready for the future, said Zovko.

Osijek-Baranja Deputy County Prefect Josip Miletić, spoke about the exceptional importance of cross-border cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating that the county had previously recognised the needs of Croats outside of Croatia directly with the means of the county.

With our example and logistics, we will help them to submit quality projects and receive these funds, and we will continue to provide support to Croats regardless of cross-border cooperation, said Miletić.

The director of the Osijek-Baranja County Development Agency, Denis Ćosić, announced that experts from Croatian agencies will go to BiH to train their employees, who will work on project proposals and their implementation.

Our goal is to create not only a knowledge base, but also to present project proposals that could be submitted through other tenders, through the Ministry of Regional Development and the Central State Office for Croats Abroad, he said.

ZAGREB, 18 June 2022 - The president of the Styrian Green Academy Sigrid Binder and the head of Croatia's Green Alternative, Zorislav Antun Petrović, on Saturday held a meeting at which they concluded that the bilateral cooperation between Green parties in Croatia and Austria was very good and vowed to further it.

Binder was quoted in a press release issued by the Green Alternative Orah as saying that she arrived in Zagreb to see how the local red-green coalition is functioning in the city.

She recalled that also in the Styrian capital of Graz, a coalition of the Greens, the Communist Party of Austria and Social Democrats of Austria is in power.

During their visit to Zagreb from last Wednesday to Saturday, members of the Green Academy were informed about the local municipal issues such as public transportation.

Binder noted that there are too many cars in Zagreb that do not only make transport more difficult but also worsen the air quality.

We hope that some of the solutions applied in Graz and Austria could be applicable here too, she said.

ZAGREB, 10 July 2021 - There is a light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel, but we must stay vigilant due to emerging new variants, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell said in Dubrovnik on Saturday and called for cooperation with Russia and China.

We are reaching the end of the tunnel, but the pandemic is still raging, especially in South America, Africa and India. We must stay vigilant because new strains are emerging, said Borrell at the 14th edition of the ministerial forum in Dubrovnik. This year's gathering focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on geopolitical relations and the world economy.

We still have a long battle ahead of us, said the chief of European diplomacy, adding that one the consequences of the pandemic will be an increasingly insecure, unequal and less free world.

Inequality will be visible, he said, not only between countries but also within each individual country.

The decisive factor for overcoming the pandemic are vaccines without which we cannot win this battle, Borrell said.

There was a lot of division at the international level, there was a lack of cooperation, but the scientific world worked hard and produced the vaccines in a very short time, Borrell said.

China increasingly intrusive, but cooperation necessary

Certainly, we need to do more, but there is one positive aspect. The EU is the only region in the world that has vaccinated its population and at the same exports the vaccine to other countries and donates to the COVAX programme, Borrell underscored.

He accused Russia and China of using vaccines to achieve their interests and warned that we had to be aware of that.

Those countries are using vaccine diplomacy, we must be aware of that, he said.

He pointed out that it was important how the EU would position itself in the triangle with the US and China, recalling that China is recording amazing economic development and that they received a very defiant message from President Xi Jinping from Beijing that foreign forces will face broken heads if they try to bully or oppress China.

(China) is becoming increasingly intrusive, cooperation with it is becoming more difficult, Borrell said.

However, he added there had to be cooperation with China in many areas and that the economic potential was still very large.

As much as 25% of global economic growth this year is from China, Borrell said, adding that in the the United States there are comments that China is a competitor, rival and partner.

He thinks that the competition between China and the US would shape the world in the decades to come, and the EU had to set a clear direction.

We share history, political and economic system with the US. We will always be close to Washington, but we must view the world taking into account our own interests, said Borrell, stressing that the dialogue between the EU and American President Joe Biden's administration on China was real, positive and constructive.

For more on politics, CLICK HERE.

June 15, 2021 -  The US Department of Homeland Security officials in Croatia will continue to work in strengthening diplomatic relations with Croatia and ensuring visa-free travel between the two countries situated on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

Officials from the US Department of Homeland Security are currently in Croatia on a weeklong visit. As reported by US Embassy on social media, the visit is in regard to Croatia's progress towards Visa Waiver Programme Membership.

If Croatia joins the programme, Croatian citizens will not need a visa to travel to the USA for tourism, transit, or even for work as long as they don't extend the 90 day limit placed on their stay in the country.

As TCN reported earlier this year, The American Embassy in Croatia formally confirmed back in February that Croatian citizens will be able to finally enjoy the right to travel to the USA without the need for a visa later this year, by the 30th of September 2021 at the very latest, as was reported by Večernji list.

The final prerequisite for the removal of visa requirements was the issuing of 2000 further visas before the end of November 2020. Back then, sources inside the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed this criterion had been met, and thus the annual level of rejected applications will be less than 3%. That final bar was set by the USA to Croatia.

''Our two governments are continuing their close cooperation on meeting the requirements for the Visa Waiver Programme participation. US Department of Homeland Security officials are currently here, working with their Croatian Government partners on further advancing our shared goals, as well as addressing any remaining technical and policy requirements. People-to-people ties between the United States of America and the Republic of Croatia are robust,'' says the press release by the US Embassy in Zagreb.

They added that the US Embassy is continuing to focus on strengthening ties between the two countries and that Croatia is a trusted partner, and these new travel arrangements will also contribute to deepening bilateral relations.

This bit of news comes as a refreshment when taking into account some other recent events. Croatia and the USA enjoy a close connection thanks to their NATO membership, and recently, Croatian president Zoran Milanovic stated that he would not accept a NATO closing declaration if it failed to mention the Dayton agreement and Bosnia and Herzegovina's three constituent peoples.

That statement was criticised even by Željko Komšić, the Croatian member of the tripartite BiH Presidency, saying that ''the concept of constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina is obsolete.''

Additionally, a bit of challenge can be seen with the fact that while the US Embassy has a diplomatic mission in Croatia, there is no appointed Ambassador to Croatia at the moment. But nevertheless, cooperation and friendly relations between the two nations remain tight.

As TCN reported back in May, Croatia participated in a military exercise of transporting American military supplies, before that, in March, the US donated the GeneXpert Machine to Zagreb's Infectious Diseases Hospital and also invested $480,000 in the Upgrade of Rijeka's Offshore Emergency Response Centre.

In addition to their cooperation in terms of safety and health issues, the US additionally cooperated with the science-technology park - Step-Ri to bring entrepreneurship expertise to the Croats. With this diplomatic friendship evident and constantly being nourished, visa-free travel between the two countries is both fully deserved and now needed.

Learn more about visas in Croatia on our TC page.

For more about diplomacy in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 9 March, 2021 - Croatia is ready to take in about ten COVID patents from the Czech Republic and Slovakia each, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković tweeted on Tuesday after his telephone conversation with his counterparts Andrej Babiš of Czechia and Igor Matovič of Slovakia.

"I have conveyed Croatia's readiness to hospitalise about ten COVID-19 patients each from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, if necessary, taking into consideration the fact that their respective health systems are under strain," Plenković wrote on his Twitter account.

Croatia is showing its solidarity with EU member-states in the struggle against COVID-19, he underscored.

The Czech Republic, which has been one of the hardest hit countries in the world by the COVID epidemic recently, has asked Germany, Switzerland and Poland to take in dozens of COVID-19 patients as the situation in its own hospitals has reached a critical point.

Slovakia has already transferred some of its patients abroad this week.

Poland and Germany each have said that they can hospitalise ten patients from that country. 

For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 9 March, 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković visited Ivanić-Grad on Tuesday, underscoring good cooperation with local and Zagreb County governments.

Speaking to the press after meeting with Mayor Javor Bojan Leš and County Prefect Stjepan Kožić, Plenković said that the investments made by the county and the town complemented government efforts to keep jobs.

"The funds for this purpose have so far affected 57,000 workers as HRK 512 million has been disbursed for job retention," the prime minister said.

€51 million from EU for county development projects

Plenković said that during the term of his government €51 million worth of projects had been agreed with the EU for this county, contributing to its development. He noted that following the reform of the local and regional government funding law, this county had received 28 percent more revenues in 2020 than in 2017.

Zagreb County has established itself among the five most developed counties in Croatia, Plenković said, praising Ivanić-Grad for investing in school infrastructure, sports halls and health tourism.

Mayor Leš highlighted the investment in the Naftalan medical rehabilitation centre and expressed his satisfaction with the collaboration with the government on public sewage system construction.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, Dec 16, 2020 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Croatian Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Korzinek signed on Wednesday the sixth Programme of Cooperation in the Field of Culture for the 2020-2022 period, the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media said.

The program was signed as part of the Russian Foreign Minister's official visit to Croatia, and it encourages exchange and cooperation between artists, cultural and art institutions, and associations, as well as direct cooperation between cultural institutions of mutual interest, the MKM said.

Mutual cooperation, the Ministry said, encompasses a wide range of activities related to museums, galleries, performing arts, literature, and publishing, as well as the existing high level of cooperation in the area of audiovisual activities.

The Ministry recalled that in the domain of cultural heritage the cooperation was especially pronounced between the Underwater Research Centre of the Russian Geographical Society, the Lomonosov Moscow State University Marine Research Centre, and the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar, a UNESCO Category II Centre.

Signing the Programme will improve, the Ministry said, the existing cooperation between organizations, artists, and experts.

In addition to a good and meaningful bilateral cooperation between the two countries, which is achieved through direct contact between cultural institutions and artists working in Croatia and Russia, the cooperation within international platforms will also continue, the Ministry of Culture and Media said.

ZAGREB, Sept 15, 2020 - A video conference was held at the Croatian Olympic Committee (HOO) on Tuesday reaffirming that Croatia and China continue to cooperate in sports, notably between the Croatian Table Tennis Federation and the Chinese Embassy in Croatia.

The cooperation, established in 2018, includes sponsorship and exchanges of the coaching staff, which is very important for Croatian table tennis because it has the world's biggest table tennis power as its partner, the HOO said.

Speaking via video link, Chinese Ambassador Xu Erwen recalled Croatia's recent sports successes, adding that Croatia and China did not cooperate only in table tennis, but also in water polo, handball, and gymnastics.

What has always impressed us and what many of my compatriots ask me is that they do not understand how a country of just four million people can achieve such excellent results globally in practically all sports, the ambassador said.

HOO President Zlatko Matesa spoke of handball cooperation. He said that a Chinese team had for the first time participated in the last season of the regional SEHA League.

"They practiced and were accommodated in Croatia, they played games here and were led by a Croatian coaching team. That is a unique example in the world that a Chinese team played in an official competition in Europe, and the link was Croatia," he said.

Matesa also mentioned the excellent cooperation between the Zagreb Faculty of Kinesiology and the Beijing University of Sport. He said that Croatia and China also cooperated in many other areas, citing the construction of the Peljesac Bridge.

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