Stronger ties for Croatia with an important Central European trading partner.
Poland will be the first country in which the Croatian Chamber of Economy will this year organize a joint presentation and business discussions for Croatian businessmen, with two separate events being organized in January. One will take place during the official visit of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović to Warsaw between 27 to 29 January, but even before that, on 19 January, the Polish-Croatian Business Forum will take place in Katowice in southern Poland. For both of these events there is a large interest of Croatian companies. As many as 45 companies have already applied to participate in the Polish-Croatian Economic Forum in Warsaw, while the event in Katowice has so far attracted 40 interested businesses, reports Poslovni.hr on January 12, 2016.
Croatian businessmen have obviously recognized the importance and potential of the Polish market. This is confirmed by the latest data on foreign trade between the two countries: in the first ten months of last year, there was an increase of Croatian exports to Poland by 24 percent, to 146 million euros which is more than the total exports in 2014. Imports from Poland have also increased, by 22 percent and have exceeded 435 million euros. Poland is currently the 15th largest export market for Croatian manufacturers, with the main exports being medicines, aluminium foil, bed parts and textile products. The main imports to Croatia are Polish cigarettes, toiletries, bread and furniture.
The initiative for stronger cooperation between Poland and Croatia was launched last autumn by Croatian and Polish presidents Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and Andrzej Duda, who advocate an initiative which would link the Adriatic and the Baltic and include, in addition to joint cooperation within NATO and the European Union, cooperation in strategic areas such as transport corridors and transport infrastructure, energy and security issues, such as the crisis in Ukraine and the refugee crisis.
According to the Croatian Chamber of Economy, Polish companies are mostly interested in investing in Croatia in the area of energy, particularly in connection with renewable energy and gas projects. In addition, Croatia has attracted interest of Polish investors in the pharmaceutical sector, food production, construction, infrastructure projects and transport, electrical engineering and shipbuilding. Of particular interest are those projects which can be co-financed from EU funds. Since 1993, Polish investments in Croatia have amounted to 140.5 million euros.
