ZAGREB, February 1, 2018 – General Director of the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP), Davor Majetić, has said that the country’s National Development Strategy to 2030 should indicate which segment Croatia considers it will be competitive in, how it intends to create better living standards and which industries it will focus on.
Then it is necessary to determine what will be done in each segment to achieve that – in education, industry and taxation policies, Majetić told reporters in Government House ahead of the start of the first meeting of the task force established to prepare Croatia’s National Development Strategy to 2030.
The government has established the task force to coordinate the preparation and monitor the implementation of the development strategy. The task force is compiled of the Prime Minister and all cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, representatives from the Office of the President, the associations of counties, cities, municipalities, Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP), Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK), unions, Croatian National Bank (HNB) and Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU).
The strategy will be the first time that a comprehensive approach will have been taken by the state to deal with long-term development planning.
Majetić said that employers want the strategy to be adopted and that a ten-year development plan for Croatia be announced and that finally, all political options accept that so that regardless of who is in power, the decisions are implemented and that the strategy is not changed, because if it is changed every three or four years, “then we are constantly going around in circles and never manage to decide where to finally turn off,” he said.
Asked which industries should be dominant in Croatia in 2030, whether that should be tourism, Majetić said that tourism should not be the basis on which to build our future. “We have to have industry and commerce that create added value and where we will be competitive. Tourism, of course, is a bonus for what we are doing however, we have to create a sustainable economy that will be capable of being changed because it is difficult to foresee what will be in ten years time, however, we have to have sufficient flexibility, strength and wisdom to adapt and play it by ear,” he said.
