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Zagreb - There are good prospects for development of economic cooperation between Croatia and the Czech Republic in the fields of energy, tourism, infrastructure, the food industry and retail, Croatian Parliament Speaker Bozo Petrov said on Tuesday opening a Czech-Croatian Economic Forum on investment opportunities in Croatia.
The Forum was organised in cooperation with the Agency for Investments and Competitiveness (AIK), the Croatian Embassy in Prague, the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Czech companies were presented with a catalogue of investment opportunities in Croatia within the framework of investments in a series of public and private projects seeking strategic partners.
"I believe that economic cooperation between Croatia and the Czech Republic that needs to be strengthened, has good development potential in the fields of energy, tourism, infrastructure, the food industry and trade", Petrov said opening the forum.
He underscored that the Croatian government's active policies have created the preconditions to attract new investments in Croatia and to improve the overall competitiveness of Croatia's economy. Petrov added that increasing industrial production contributed to this, which is proof of the positive trends and stable business climate for investments.
According to data by the Croatian National Bank, Czech direct investments into Croatia in the period from 1993 to Q3 2016 amounted to 334.9 million euro which puts the Czech Republic as Croatia's 15th foreign investor. AIK is currently monitoring two investment projects by Czech investors worth 67 million euro which should open 215 jobs in Croatia. Further investments from Czech companies are expected, particularly in tourism projects, the banking and production sectors and in the media.
On Monday, during the first day of his visit to the Czech Republic, Petrov held talks with with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Parliament Speaker Milan Stech, and they concurred that bilateral economic relations were backed by a high level of bilateral political relations. (Hina)