April the 22nd, 2023 - The newly built Osijek-Baranja County business centre, one of the most strategically important centres in the entire county, has now officially opened its doors in an investment worth almost ten million euros.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the investment in the brand new Osijek-Baranja County business centre is worth a total of 9.5 million euros (71.6 million kuna), and the works and equipment were completed in less than two years from the start of construction.

With Osijek on the comeback and the battle against the concerning demographic crisis in the eastern part of the country continuing, this new and imposing economic and business complex in Slavonia will open the Spring Fair, where 170 exhibitors from across the Republic of Croatia and abroad will present themselves on more than 2,500 square metres of closed and 8,000 square metres of open exhibition space.

As part of the three-day exhibition and sales event, a number of accompanying events will be held at the newly opened Osijek-Baranja County business centre, from entertainment and promotional to professional gatherings, and products and programmes will be presented by a number of reputable companies such as the Nexe Group, Ancona Group, Saponia and more.

"The main goal of this representative project is the development of the local economy in this county, as well as across all of the eastern part of the Republic of Croatia. After the end of this first phase, phase two has also been planned. That will be the phase in which the business tower and some closed halls will be constructed, but it goes without saying that what has now been built, a facility with almost 5,000 m2 of closed space, offers the opportunity to organise various fairs and other economic activities as it is. Osijek-Baranja County is taking over the responsibility and management of this new facility," prefect Ivan Anusic announced.

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March the 17th, 2021 - Ivan Anusic has stated that the future of the Croatian east, the former bread basket of the entire region, lies in ecological production. Could moving more towards that lead to the revival of overlooked Slavonia?

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marta Duic writes, in cooperation with the Croatian Association of Counties, Poslovni dnevnik to see how various Croatian counties stand after the pandemic year, and the first interlocutor among many was Ivan Anusic, the prefect of Osijek-Baranja County.

"The situation isn't ideal, the large projects for which we've provided funds have been slowed down and the realisation has not started at the pace we'd initially planned. However, we found secondary ways of financing and started out with them, but the pandemic left its mark on us, as it has on the whole world,” said Ivan Anusic.

According to Ivan Anusic, this eastern Croatian county was looking for a balance between the economy and the situation with public health, and they wanted at least a part of the economy to function in the given conditions, despite the difficulties involved. Although the large economic systems that can hold up their own weight haven't really been deprived, the catering and hospitality sectors were certainly deprived.

"Slavonia is important for food production and we saw that back in early March (2020) when we were greeted by the first lockdown. Then, we came to the conclusion that food production must be self-sufficient for us who live in Croatia, and later that we must place these products on foreign markets. That must be the priority of our government," believes Anusic.

When they heard that Meggle was leaving, says Anusic, they had to act urgently. Too much politics infecting everything in this part of Croatia let it go down the drain, maybe Osijek isn't our biggest city, but it did have the biggest industry. By shutting down Meggle, we not only lost our jobs but also our tradition and we're glad that we managed to arrange everything with Belje. Unfortunately, there wasn't so much luck for the sugar factory," explained Ivan Anusic, noting that the future of Slavonia should be agriculture.

As he claims, Slavonia cannot build a future on tourism, although intensive work is being done on continental tourism, this area was created for agricultural production, and Anusic sees the future of Slavonia in ecological production. The construction of the Distribution Centre for Fruits and Vegetables has started, and it is a project worth a massive 101 million kuna that will include small farmers and they will be able to store, dry, pack, sort and create added products from their hard work.

"The defeat of every government happens when young people have to leave to get their bread. Slavonia has been communicating this sort of negative story out to the world for many years now, and it was also communicated by those who made it so. We don't need any special help, we just need to be allowed to develop our resources and have those resources in our own hands. Perceptions are slowly changing, European Union (EU) funds are there for us and we have a chance to rise like other Croatian cities and build a story of our own,'' concluded Osijek-Baranja Prefect Ivan Anusic.

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ZAGREB, Oct 28, 2020 - Osijek-Baranja County Prefect Ivan Anusic said on Thursday that he is satisfied with the agreement on the sale of the Meggle dairy company, reached after months of negotiations between the Fortenova Group and Meggle's management in Osijek.

"When the news was announced in July that Meggle was leaving Croatia, aware that we could not change the management's decision, I called on Meggle's Croatian management for talks to find a way to retain the dairy tradition in Osijek and to save jobs. We held a meeting with interested companies at the Agriculture Ministry which launched these, now successfully completed negotiations based on which Belje Plus, a member of the Fortenova Group, has taken over the dairy," Anusic posted on his Facebook profile.

He underlined that as county prefect he could not influence business processes and decisions by companies doing business in the county but that he could extend a hand of cooperation to find the best possible solution,

Anusic believes that the example of Meggle has shown that mayors and county prefects can certainly contribute to resolving problems for all economic stakeholders who are prepared for talks.

"It is our duty to react, to cooperate and to connect businesses between themselves as well as with all levels of government. I congratulate the management of both companies for a job well done and wish Meggle's employees and subcontractors a lot of working days ahead in the dairy industry," said Anusic.

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ZAGREB, May 31, 2020 - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) vice-president Ivan Anusic said on Sunday that the mission of Miroslav Skoro and his Homeland Movement in the coming parliamentary election was to "undermine the Christian Democrat and people's camp, the kind of which Social Democrats are unable to form on their own."

Anusic said in a statement for the press that during his visit to Vukovar on Saturday, Skoro, whose platform is based on the 1991-95 Homeland War, had to answer a question from which he had been hiding ever since he returned to the political arena, namely where he had been in 1990.

Anusic said that Skoro had to confirm that he had been in the United States at the time, visiting Croatia several times, also to attend a rally of the Coalition of People's Accord, which, Anusic said, "was a fierce opponent of Christian Democracy as advocated by then HDZ leader Franjo Tudjman."

"The same way he sided with those who did not want Croatia's independence with Tudjman at its helm back then, so in 2019 with his political engagement he helped Zoran Milanovic become President," said Anusic, noting that the Homeland Movement's mission in the coming election was to topple the Christian Democrat and people's camp the kind of which, he said, Social Democrats were unable to form on their own.