Economic analysts of The Financial Times have placed Ivanec among the most desirable investment destinations of European towns with up to 100,000 residents.
As Poslovni Dnevnik reports on the 10th of September, 2017, Ivanec’s Project Office for EU Funds, which was founded back in 2015, is one of the reasons why this Croatian town finds itself on the list of ”smart” Croatian towns.
The office services are freely available for use to all entrepreneurs, tradesmen, OPGs and associations. For example, in August alone, the Project Office withdrew 3.66 million kuna from European Union funds for 11 entrepreneurial projects. It does not discriminate between NGOs and OPGs, entrepreneurs or tradesmen in their work, so the office provides all the interested parties with good project ideas, and their plans are co-financed with non-refundable funds. Apart from attracting money from European Union funds, the project office is also important because its opening is employing about a dozen young highly educated people, youth that is provided with the conditions they need so they do not have to go abroad in search of work.
Ivanec can be considered to be one of the most ”propelling” cities when we talk about European funds that will be injected directly back into the local economy, and by implementing all the planned projects, at least 48 new jobs should be opened.
”There is no doubt that total revenues and exports will increase,” they say from the Mayor’s office.
“Ivanec’s Project Office has been extremely successful so far in attracting European Union funds, which we certainly plan to continue doing in the coming period. Awards and acknowledgments testify that the young people employed there have done an excellent job, and their work should continue to be stimulated further. We’re focused on strengthening all the necessary prerequisites for the further development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in the local region as well as continually reducing unemployment. The current unemployment rate is around 5%,” Mayor Milorad Batinić said while in conversation with Poslovni Dnevnik.
It doesn’t stop there, in regard to schooling, education and further investment in the future, Ivanec initiated a change of more than 20 years of old school programs seven years ago, as well as their adaptation, as they say, to the real and specific needs of the current economy.
Branding Ivanec as an attractive environment for potential investors was recognised by The Financial Times, which, for the first time, placed it among hundreds of other European towns at an impressive tenth place on the list of preferred investment destinations. Shortly after, economic analysts from The Financial Times also declared Ivanec the most desirable investment destination among European cities with up to 100,000 inhabitants.
“If we’re on the right track with our efforts, we’re witnessing the acquisition of a new international certificate (BFC) which confirms Ivanec as a town with a favourable business environment and a friendly atmosphere for business in Southeastern Europe, so, we can talk about the current and future inflow of foreign capital” Batinić stated.
Translated from Poslovni.hr
