CROZ hopes to help the Finance Ministry of Kuwait introduce the value-added tax.
“The Middle East is part of the world in which we see an opportunity to prove ourselves. The potential of the market is enormous, not only for the Croatian IT industry, but also for all companies that can offer products and services on a global level”, said Krešimir Mudrovčić, member of board of directors of CROZ company, after he returned from Kuwait, reports Jutarnji List on February 10, 2017.
They implemented their first project in the Middle East about ten years ago, and this week they went one step further and joined the state delegation in an official visit to Kuwait. There, company representatives talked with Finance Minister Anas Khalid Al-Saleh, to whom they presented their experience in the field of tax administration information systems.
Persian Gulf countries have decided to introduce the value-added tax (VAT) in 2018. Because until now the revenue side of public finances has been based on oil revenues, this means that they now have to develop tax system virtually from the ground up. Since it is necessary, among other things, to define the implementation of IT solutions, CROZ presented its ideas on how to do it.
In addition, they met with Minister of Education Mohammad Abdullatif Al-Fares, to whom they presented the STEMI robot which recently had a great success at the largest consumer electronics fair in the world – CES in Las Vegas. The robot is designed for children aged 14 who can “socialize” with the robot and learn various engineering skills and be introduced to a life cycle of an engineering project.
CROZ now expects the next phase of talks with potential partners from Kuwait, and possible launch of several new projects. They have been doing business in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region for several years, and their projects include the implementation of IBM technologies and the development of complex information systems. They are satisfied with the cooperation with local partners, and if there are some large projects they will think about opening of an office in the region.
CROZ has focused on services to financial and public sector and other major IT systems. They currently have 200 employees and have participated in about 500 projects. In addition to Croatia, they have focused on the United Kingdom, Germany and the Middle East.
Mudrovčić said they would continue to support socially important projects, such as STEMI and eSkills initiatives, because they have a positive impact on the development of digital skills and society in general.
