23-4-2017
HE President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar Kitrovic has commended the privileged relations between her country and Qatar.
Addressing Qatari-Croatian Business Forum which was held today, the President of Croatia hoped that economic and trade cooperation grew to the level of political relations between the two friendly countries, noting that it has nevertheless doubled several times since 2002.
She added that her country attaches great importance to building strong economic and trade relations with Qatar, hoping for more cooperation between Qatari and Croatian businessmen to strengthen these relations, noting that many Croatian companies want to enter the Qatari market.
President Kitrovic called on Qatari businessmen to invest in her country, stressing that Croatia is an open country for business, welcoming Qatari investments.
Her Excellency added that Croatia is an attractive and favorable country for doing business, and has many opportunities for Qatari businessmen to invest in in various economic sectors, especially infrastructure, energy, tourism, health, pharmaceutical and food industry, and advanced technology.
With its unique geostrategic position and the farthest-reaching European sea inlet, Croatia is a gateway to the Central and Eastern Europe providing an easy access to the European and world markets, the Croatian President said.
For his part, HE Chairman of Qatar Chamber Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Thani said: “Qatar and Croatia enjoy distinct relations at all levels and fields. But their trade volume is still below expectations. It reached last year only $ 22 million. It doesn’t reflect the available potentials each country own. Therefore, I wish this meeting would be a new start for activating a positive cooperation between the private sector in both friendly countries.”
HE the Chairman of Qatar Chamber stressed that Qatar Chamber and businessmen in Qatar and Croatia are keen on strengthening relations between businessmen to establish genuine partnerships and joint enterprises whether in Qatar or Croatia.
His Excellency hoped that this meeting would be a new start for activating a positive cooperation between the private sector in both friendly countries, and that Qatari businessmen interested to explore the available investment opportunities in Croatia.
President of Croatian Chamber of Economy Luka Burilovi said that the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two Chambers will be institutional support and encouragement for the development of further cooperation between the two sides.
“We look forward to achieving a new prosperous stage of our bilateral partnership,” he said, pointing out the Croatian Chamber of Economy has organized several Croatian trade mission to Qatar. “The first one was organized in 2003 and since then we work together with our Qatari partners to strengthen the economic relations between our companies and our two countries.” He said that today’s meetings will result in specific business cooperation, hoping that meetings here in Doha and contacts made between Croatian and Qatari companies will contribute to increasing these figures.
“The areas of cooperation are numerous. From traditional and already successful sectors in this part of the world, like energy and oil and gas sector, construction, shipbuilding and metal industry to new industries like ICT, pharmaceutical and food industry, chemical sector, engineering, tourism and transfer of knowledge. Companies from several mentioned sectors are here today and they are willing to renew old friendship, from some new partnerships and mark a new direction in our relations.
“We would also like to send the message today to potential Qatari investors that Croatia is an attractive and favorable country for doing business.” “We are a Central European and Mediterranean country, an EU member country. We offer numerous opportunities for joint projects and we guarantee stability and the safety of business and investments. The Republic of Croatia guarantees by law the same rights to foreign investors as it does to the Croatian investors and it ensures free transfer of return on equity from the country upon completion of the investment.”
