ZAGREB, March 17, 2018 – Entrepreneurs in Chile with Croatian origins like the Lukšić family offer great potential to strengthen economic cooperation between Croatia and Chile, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said on Friday during a visit to the Latin American country.
Grabar-Kitarović met in Santiago with President Sebastian Pinera, who was sworn in five days ago, the Croatian president’s office said in a press release.
The two officials discussed their countries’ friendly relations and ways of using them to strengthen modest economic cooperation between Croatia and Chile which has a large and successful Croat community.
The greatest investor from Chile in Croatia is the Lukšić Group, owned by the Lukšić family who originate from Croatia. They are one of Chile’s wealthiest families and own a business empire including mines, banks and hotels. The family is a major investor in Croatia’s tourism sector and has purchased hotels from Dubrovnik to Istria.
Croatia’s military industry is present on the Chilean market with companies such as HS Produkt, Dok-Ing and Šestan-Busch, and there is potential for mutual investment in shipbuilding, tourism, the Rijeka and Ploče ports and commodity trade.
The two presidents agreed that it is up to both countries to support further cooperation and remove any obstacles to it. Cooperation is expected to be enhanced with a programme signed between the two governments on cultural cooperation, the press release said.
During her visit to Chile, to last several days, President Grabar-Kitarović will meet with the Croat community in Santiago, Punta Arenas and Antofagasta, which are the three cities with the largest Croat communities. It is estimated there are about 250,000 Chileans with Croatian roots, which puts Chile among countries with the largest Croat diaspora in the world.
