As part of the promotion of Croatian wines under the Wines of Croatia – Vina Mosaica brand, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce organised a promotional wine dinner in Vienna, Austria. Hosted by the director of the Vienna Wine Academy, Josef Schuller, ten Croatian wineries presented their best wines – Badel 1862, Degrassi, Dvanajščak Kozol, Feravino, Iločki Podrumi, Krauthaker, Kutjevo, PP Orahovica, Stina and Vina Belje, reports Večernji List on December 16, 2018.

“The quality of your wines is obvious, the problem is their insufficient recognizability," Schuller pointed out, adding that the problem could be solved thanks to the fact that many Austrians love to spend their holidays on the Croatian coast, where they have an opportunity to taste Croatian wines.

“And, in your country, almost every island has its wine. With good promotional activities like this dinner, bright future awaits you,” said Schuller, especially emphasising Malvasia, a wine variety which cannot be found in Austria. “The red wines from Dalmatia are a little bit more well-known among the Austrians, but I am afraid that not everybody is aware just how great these wines can be. Your Graševina is also better than the Austrian, but unfortunately, it is not well-known,” said Schuller.

Raising awareness is precisely the goal of such promotional events. “We try to use the potential we have and brand Croatia as a wine country to ultimately make the job easier for our exporters. If our autochthonous varieties win so many prizes at international competitions, why would not they be offered at the best restaurants,” asked Luka Burilović, the president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).

“The export trends to Austria are positive. After Bosnia and Herzegovina and Germany, Austria is the third largest export market in the wine sector. In 2017, we exported 8,500 hectolitres of wines, worth 1.2 million euro. We can reasonably expect exports to grow further,” said Burilović.

The basic idea of this kind of promotional events is to enable direct contact between wineries and customers, distributors and restaurant owners. The wines of Iločki Podrumi have found their buyers in Austria since 2017, and the Austrian market now accounts for 15 per cent of the company’s total exports.

"Our export strategy is not focused on volume, although the share of exports of our wines increases year by year,” said Karmela Tancabel, the wine export advisor at Iločki Podrumi. “Events such as these can greatly contribute to this since the structure of guests is aimed at developing business links and above all at raising awareness about Croatia,” said Tancabel.

In addition to being extremely demanding when it comes to gastronomy, the long-time wine distributor Ivo Peršinović said that the Austrians are very closed when it comes to importing foreign wines. "It is not easy to break through the Austrian market. They import only seven per cent of the wines sold, the rest are their wines,” said Peršinović, adding that the number of Austrian buyers had doubled in the last two years. “Wine dinners are the right way because gastronomy is the main promoter of wines," concluded Peršinović at the event held at the Kornat restaurant.

More news about Croatian wines can be found in our Lifestyle section.

In the first eight months of this year, Croatian exports to Canada grew by almost 150 %, Vice President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) for International Affairs and EU Ivan Barbarić said at the Croatian-Canadian Economic Forum held in Toronto, reports Lider on November 30, 2018.

Since the signing of the CETA free trade agreement, the Canadian market offers ever greater opportunities for Croatian entrepreneurs, and the very strong Croatian diaspora with more than 250,000 people is an added impetus to enter the Canadian market. That is why we believe that now is the right time to use this positive trend and increase trade exchange to a much larger figure than the current 85 million dollars. This is also the main reason for our delegation’s visit. We have decided to focus on three sectors we consider to have the greatest potential, namely IT, food industry and cosmetics,” Barbarić explained.

The experiences of Croatian companies already operating on the Canadian market are positive. “Collaboration with Canadian companies is at the highest level of professionalism. The well-established Croatian community needs to be used because new opportunities are constantly being opened,” said Petar Šimić, CEO of Primaco, a company which has been working with Canadian companies for many years, providing them with logistics services for the consolidation of goods, customs representation, and transport from Croatia, central and southeast Europe to Canada.

“Our business meetings went exceptionally well, the people I spoke with demonstrated openness and sincere interest in co-operation. We have opened several networking opportunities with potential clients from the Canadian market,” said Vanja Bertalan, CEO of the Burza company, which deals with web development, digital strategies and similar activities.

Marica Matković, Ambassador of Croatia to Canada, recalled that Croatia and Canada are marking 25 years of diplomatic relations this year, but added that the ties are much older. “CETA is a new generation of free trade agreements which do not create the winners and the losers, but are a winning formula for everyone,” Matković said.

The opinion that this moment should be exploited by businessmen is shared by Daniel Maksymiuk, Canada's Ambassador to Croatia, who pointed out that Croatian entrepreneurs in Canada are successful in all sectors.

Cameron Sinclair, Deputy Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Economy, Employment and Commerce, also stressed the CETA benefits for businesses and added that he would like to see more Canadian investors in Croatia.

The Croatian economic delegation met with the Croatian diaspora representatives. The meeting was organized by the Canadian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. “Contact us, we can open the doors for you,” said diaspora representative Ivan Grbošić, listing as one of the examples the Ancona company from Đakovo which produces furniture. They recently helped them get in contact with Canadian partners and are already in negotiations about furnishing one Canadian hotel.

In addition to individual sector cooperation, the potential for Croatian-Canadian cooperation can also be found in tourism. About 140,000 Canadian tourists visited Croatia last year, an increase of almost 25 % compared to 2016.

About 40 Croatian businesses sent their representatives to Canada, including Adria Winch, Poslovna Inteligencija, Aduro Ideja, Konekta Tehnologije, Mobendo, Orgula Group, and Petričević Group.

The visit was organized as part of the HGK project “HR.exports – with HGK to foreign markets”, co-financed by a European Union grant from the European Regional Development Fund. The project aims to further strengthen the presence of small and medium-sized enterprises in foreign markets to increase exports of Croatian products and services.

For more on the relations between Croatia and Canada, click here.

Translated from Lider.

ZAGREB, November 22, 2018 - Karlovac-based arms manufacturer HS Product was voted best large company by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) and was presented with the Zlatna Kuna (Golden Marten) Award at a ceremony in Zagreb on Wednesday evening.

The award-giving ceremony brought together many business people and public and political figures, including President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Tomislav Tolušić, Economy Minister Darko Horvat, Zagreb University Rector Damir Boras, former President of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Zvonko Kusić, representative of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Branko Bačić and Deputy Mayor of Zagreb Olivera Majić.

HS Produkt CEO Željko Pavlin said that the company generates 98 percent of its revenue from exports and innovates its own products. That's why this award belongs to the company's engineers and to all of its employees, he added.

Passenger and charter cargo airline Trade Air received the Zlatna Kuna Award as best medium-size company, while the award for best small company went to IT consulting firm Kod Savjetovanje.

Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) was voted best bank and Croatia Osiguranje best insurance company.

The Microblink computer vision technology company was awarded for innovation, while Photomath, whose mobile application for solving mathematical problems has been downloaded more than 100 million times, was voted best post-startup company.

The lifetime achievement award went to Franco Palma, a prominent professional in the tourist industry.

Zlatna kuna - Grabar-Kitarović: We need more determination, proactivity and optimism

President Grabar-Kitarović said that the event is important for acknowledging those at the forefront of the country's economic development.

As an indicator of the success of Croatian companies, she said that last year they increased the number of employees by 5.8 percent and overall revenues by 9.5 percent, generating a total of 21.9 billion kuna in net profit. She said that Croatian entrepreneurs have proved for decades that they can be successful in all business circumstances and cope with different challenges.

"Just as we recognise these qualities of yours and celebrate your achievements, so we respect the fundamental values and principles that you represent, those being innovativeness, creativity, hard work, commitment, persistence, competence, the values that are deeply rooted in the fabric of the Croatian people," the president said.

She said that she is a great optimist because she knows that Croatia can advance in improving its economy and stand side by side with those countries that are now more developed than it.

"We are wise and smart enough, but we need more determination, proactivity and optimism. My vision of Croatia as a prosperous and functioning state, a competitive economy in which we all work together for the general good and for the wellbeing of every person, remains unchanged and I am ready, in accordance with my powers, to contribute to these goals," Grabar-Kitarović said.

Zlatna kuna - Plenković underlines importance of ICT sector

Prime Minister Plenković said the government based all its economic activities in order to support entrepreneurs and business people and that they rested on fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and attracting investment. "Only in that way can we ensure lasting and sustainable economic growth... and keep up with what we call the foundation of the fourth industrial revolution, i.e. innovation, digitisation and competitiveness."

Plenković said last year's surplus of 3.15 billion kuna showed that the government had planned expenditures and revenues wisely, and that the 1.6 billion kuna surplus in the first half of this year showed that it had continued to do so with the same intensity.

He said the three rounds of the tax reform would relieve the business sector and citizens by 6.3 billion kuna, announcing that the tax relief would continue next year and that businesses would feel it.

Plenković said the digitisation of public administration and the judiciary would continue, and that a new public procurement law would result in more transparent and faster procedures.

He said the government measures had reduced the number of indebted citizens with frozen bank accounts by over 50,000, and that a pension reform was expected to make the system sustainable and more fair and raise pensions.

Speaking of investments, Plenković said this year they reached a record high of 2 billion euro, including 1 billion euro in tourism. He added that tourism must not be the only growing industry and that ICT was a sector in which new steps forward must be made to catch up with the companies and countries at the forefront of global trends.

HGK president Luka Burilović said the digital age had changed communication, doing business and lives, but that he did not agree with announcements that artificial intelligence and robots would take over people's roles. "It's true that the digital transformation will profile the winners and the losers, and which side we will be on depends less on governments and luck and more on us and our ability to accept changes. It's up to us to be their active creator and not a passive observer," he said.

We must decide whether we want to be a country with a rentier economy which loses its population or if we will focus on new technologies, excellence, innovation and quality jobs, he added.

For more on the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, click here.

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ZAGREB, May 3, 2018 - Director-General of the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) Davor Majetić said on Thursday that the European Commission's forecast of a growth of 2.8% of Croatia's economy was realistic and added that growth was slowing down as the reforms the government planned were not being implemented.

ZAGREB, April 20, 2018 - The Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) on Friday commented on a report on a general government surplus and a public debt reduction, saying that progress made in the public finances sector had encouraged progress in the macroeconomic stability of the country and enabled economic growth on healthy foundations.

ZAGREB, April 19, 2018 - The Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) on Wednesday once again opened its office in Belgrade after five years and officials from both Croatia's and Serbia's chambers said that the economy needed and must be above politics, expressing regret over an incident caused by Vojislav Šešelj which cast a shadow on this economic event and caused the official visit by Croatia's parliamentary delegation to Belgrade to be abruptly terminated.