Italian companies are among the largest investors in Croatia.
Italian companies which have already established their presence in Croatia, as well as the new ones, want to keep investing in the country, but they do expect improvements related to the business environment, it was stated at a recent event focused on the Italian investments, reports tportal.hr on May 25, 2016.
Elvio Florian, the owner of the Florian Group, has announced the group’s new investment plan for Croatia, including 25 million euros for the new Vukovar parquet manufacturer and the facility for cogeneration and production of pellets, where they will employ about 500 new workers, while at least five to six smaller companies from the wood industry will become their subcontractors.
The event held at the Croatian Chamber of Economy in Zagreb attracted about 50 representatives of Italian firms doing business in Croatia. In his introductory speech, Economy Ministry Tomislav Panenić said that the new government was working on improving the business and investment climate. In addition, he pointed to the agriculture and energy as some of the areas for investments. Panenić also said that the government “had accelerated plans” for the LNG terminal in Croatia. He called on Italian entrepreneurs to continue their cooperation with Croatia, especially in the manufacturing sector, because he believed that Croatia will have an important role in the global trends involving the return of the production from the Eastern markets to Europe.
Adriano Chiodi Cianfarani, Italian ambassador to Croatia, emphasized the traditionally good bilateral and economic relations between the two countries. He mentioned the new calls for the cross-border cooperation in the amount of 236 million euros, which could bring new opportunities for the collaboration between Italy and Croatia. The first call is expected in the autumn.
He also reiterated that many Italian companies had been present in Croatia for over 20 years, and many more wanted to invest in the country. “Croatia has some advantages for Italian investors, but there are some critical points and we hope that the investment climate will improve, which is something that Croatian government has indicated”, he added.
Both the Italian ambassador and the President of the Association of Italian Businesses in Croatia Dubravko Hoić commented on the official Croatian numbers regarding the Italian investments during the period from 1993 to 2015, which totalled 1.4 billion euros or five percent of the total foreign investments. They believe that the Italian investments have been underestimated and that these numbers were actually much higher.
