The defence industries of the two countries see a chance for a step forward.
The military-industrial complex is a significant part of every national economy, and in the states like Israel, it is also the driver of technological development. Therefore, the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK) organised a business conference of Croatian and Israeli defence companies, which brought together 15 Israeli businesses and 53 Croatian entrepreneurs, reports Poslovni.hr on October 1, 2017.
The event was attended by Alojzije Šestan, the director of the helmet manufacturer Šestan Busch, who revealed that they are currently working with an Israeli company on producing a military helmet, and hoping for the placement of their products in this demanding market.
The founder of Dok-Ing company Vjekoslav Majetić stressed that the Croatian military industry could be proud of the quality of its products. “We have many reasons to be satisfied because our military equipment meets the highly demanding Israeli criteria. We also offer mine removal equipment which demonstrates the humanitarian aspect of our company,” said Majetić.
Director of the Israeli company Rafael, Zvika Zuckerman, also hopes for the development of cooperation with Croatian partners. He sees great opportunities for synergies in the field of navigation systems and antiaircraft defence, given that his company is dealing with the development of systems which can intercept missiles and have a very high percentage of success.
The event in Zagreb was attended by defence ministers of the two countries, Damir Krstičević and Avigdor Lieberman, who pointed out excellent political, but also insufficiently developed economic relations. Krstičević said he had three meetings with his Israeli colleague in the past year, which speaks volumes about the potential for cooperation. The two countries have had good relations since the 1990s, and the links have been raised to an even higher level last year, during the wildfires in Israel which were extinguished by firefighting planes of the Croatian Air Force, together with the Israeli services.
Although there is no news at the moment about the process of acquisition of new combat aircraft for Croatian armed forces, with Israeli F-16s being among favourites, Minister Krstičević said that the received bids would be presented on Tuesday, when more information should be known.
Ben Baruch, the director of the Israeli weapons trade company Sibat, which is linked to the Ministry of Defence, presented the Israeli defence industry, which is made up of 700 high-tech companies. Baruch pointed out that Israel considered Croatia to be the leading technology partner in the region and saw a great opportunity for Israeli investments and technology transfer to Croatia.
Translated from poslovni.hr.
