PV International 0138

S U P P O R T E D B Y T H E C R O A T I A N C H A M B E R O F E C O N O M Y

pvpvinternationalinternationalCroatian Business & Finance WeeklyEstablished in 1953Monday / 31st January / 2011Year IV / No 0138www.privredni.hr

20102010

NEGOTIATIONS CALENDAR: MEMBERSHIP IN 2014

Push and pullfor six yearsThe European Parliament could ratify the agreement on Croatian EU accession in October, after concluding negotiations in the summer, yet realistic expectations of an end to the ratification process with all 27 member states show a longer period will be necessary

Marin Bosotina, owner of ChronoAs in the case of trading centres conglomerating, the same thing will happen with medical servicesINTERVIEW

PAGE 4

Croatian Bureau of Statistics assessmentAverage Croatian household annual food costs 32%, housing 14.9% and clothing 7.9% HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE

PAGES 2-3

Euro-Milk dairyIn the midst of crisis a small dairy registered sales growth and ventured into new investmentAGRICULTURE

PAGE 5

Lada Stipić-Niseteo

Zagreb has a plan: nego-tiations’ conclusion on the 21st June, so that the

leaders are able to announce it formally at the final summit of the Hungarian presidency. In addition, the entry date will be known by then. The plan is fea-sible and if it really becomes a reality, the mathematics of the marathon negotiations proc-ess would read 2,286 days, or almost six years in total. The opening of negotiations on 3rd October 2005 was not fortunate

for two countries unwillingly included in the process. Croatia overcame all possible obstacles and it is certain that the param-

eters for Turkey were tested first on Croatia. Moreover, the Croatian leadership relied on lobbying for too long. The situ-ation started developing only when Slovenian blocking ma-noeuvres reached excessive pro-portions and when discrete inte-rior sanctions came into force. The episode confirmed that the Eurosceptics were wrong to complain of a superstate; each of the 27 member states has the possibility to express its views, rather than common goals in

the enlargement process, whilst such a possibility does not exist in a superstate.

The key importance of the 11th MarchHowever, the main challenge on the way towards finalising negotiations will take place on 11th March, when the European Commission will give a pre-liminary report on progress to-wards judicial reform. The date set is a definite advantage as it will make the Commission work

rather than meditate upon the re-sults. It will all depend upon the mark given by the Commission. However, other prerequisites will also have to be satisfied. This would be the best and the most favourable scenario. After six years of torment, this scenar-io looks more like an unrealised dream than a real option which is, nevertheless, in everyone’s interest. When negotiations con-clude in the summer, the Euro-pean Parliament could ratify the agreement on EU accession as early as October. Hannes Swo-boda, the rapporteur for Croatia, hoping to have given the Parlia-ment its final report, claims that it would imply the ratification commencement in 2012, after the referendum in Croatia. He fears, however, that the procedure will ingloriously enter the Guinness Book Of World Records by the time it takes to finalise the nego-tiations. It is almost impossible to finalise everything by the end of the year, thus completion on 1st January 2014 or, a bleaker version, on 1st June 2014, is a more realistic option according to Swoboda.

When negotiations conclude in the

summer, the European Parliament could ratify

the agreement on EU accession as early as

October.

2 Privredni vjesnikYear IV No 0138

IMPRESSUM:

Privredni vjesnikKačićeva 910000 Zagreb+385 1 [email protected]

www.privredni-vjesnik.hr/subscription

FOR PUBLISHERNikola Baučić+385 1 [email protected]

EDITOR IN CHIEFDarko Buković+385 1 [email protected]

EXECUTIVE EDITORSAndrea Marić[email protected] Antonić[email protected]

IMC MANAGERDea Olup +385 1 [email protected]

TRANSLATIONLučana [email protected] [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Ray [email protected]

MILAN BUŠIĆ, FORMING OWNER AND DIRECTOR

Energy performance certificate an imperativeMore attention will be focused on the energy rating of a residential building, both upon purchase and residential-commercial building rent

Since last year, residential building owners have had to submit an energy per-

formance certificate providing the energy efficiency rating for the building upon receiving the operating licence. The energy performance assessment of a building is a fully-documented procedure. It is performed to de-fine the energy efficiency of a building and the level of efficien-cy in relation to recommended values. The certificate consists of economically justified proposed measures for a building’s energy efficiency improvement and is produced by accredited asses-sors. Energy performance assess-ment is a document covering the energy efficiency of a building with a prescribed content and can be issued solely by accredited in-dividuals.Little attention has been devoted to this issue in Croatia, yet this is certainly going to alter in the

future due to anticipated energy price increases. Considerable at-tention will be focused on the en-ergy ranking of a building, both upon purchase and renting resi-dential-commercial buildings.Forming is accredited for energy assessment and energy perform-ance certification of residential and commercial buildings, both with simple and complex tech-nical systems. Accreditation encompasses an energy inspec-tion of buildings with a complex technical system in their archi-tecture and the construction-re-lated segment. According to the regulations covering the energy performance certificate of build-ings, every building is to hold an energy performance certificate prior to use or before its open-ing; every building for sale, rent or lease must hold the certificate by the Croatian EU accession date at the latest and all public use buildings must produce and publicly display the certificate by 10th June 2012.Green projects are a trend and several parameters and green standards are becoming increas-ingly important in the construc-tion of a building. All parameters starting from its distance from important public facilities, posi-tion and location, to the building method and building materials used, their energy efficiency, its integration into the environment, the quality of living and traffic connection are gaining signifi-cant focus.

average expenditure on food and soft drinks

32%(

Igor Vukić

The average Croatian household had an avail-able annual nett income

of €11,896, with average out-goings of €10,436 in 2009, as stated in the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) research study. The highest percentage (32%) related to food and soft drinks (€3,346). Housing and energy costs amounted to €1,502, some 14.9% of total outgoings. Trans-port totalled €1,145 on aver-age or 11%. Outgoings on other goods and services totalled €881 (8.45%) and personal care serv-ices, insurance premiums, jew-ellery and watches accounted for an insignificant €7 annually. Average Croatian household an-nual expenditure on clothing and footwear stood at €761 or 7.9%.Recreation and culture spend-ing amounted to €625 or 5.99%. Within this figure, recreation and culture spending totalled €240, the highest amount spent, fol-lowed by newspapers and books (€179). Home furnishings and household maintenance expens-es averaged €545 (5.22%) with slightly lower expenditure on communications with €537 or 5.14%.

Continuous growth in expenditure Croatian Bureau of Statistics re-searchers suggest that average family annual outgoings on alco-holic drinks and tobacco totalled €375 (3.59%), restaurants and hotels €325 (3.11%) and €289 (2.77%) for health services. Edu-cation expenses amounted to a meagre 1% or €104 of average family expenditure.

Total average household outgo-ings were higher in crisis-ridden 2009 than in 2008. This conti-nuous growth began in 2005, soaring by almost €685 in 2007 compared with 2006. In 2005,

outgoings stood at €9,545 and over the following years, chan-ged as follows: 2006 - €9,514; 2007 - €10,137; 2008 - €10,208 and 2009 €10,436.A survey conducted on a re-presentative sample of 3,000

CROATIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS ASSESSMENT

Household incoof €10,436Average Croatian household total annual food costs amoun

According to the survey, the top decile of

households had an annual income of €28,855, whilst

that for the lowest decile stood at €2,242

www.privredni.hrBusiness & Finance Weekly 3

annual expenditure on housing and energy

€1,502(

ome of €11,896 and outgoings

t to 32% , housing 14.9% and clothing and footwear 7.9%

In 2009, a survey recorded 80.8% of Croatian families living in flats or family houses in pri-vate ownership without housing loans, whilst 7.9% families had a housing loan. 4.5% of fami-lies lived in rented accommodation, primarily in family houses (73.1%) and flats (26.9%). The majority of residential units, 48%, were built between 1961 and 1980. An average residenti-al unit consisted of two ro-oms (45.5%) or three rooms (20.7%).

Whilst average family expenditure increa-sed from 2005 to 2009, due to a rise in pri-ces fewer goods were purchased. Annual po-tato purchases dropped from 45 kg to 40 kg per family member in 2009. In 2005, milk pur-chases totalled 85 litres, whilst five years la-ter it had decreased to 77 litres. Less was also

spent on flour (down from 26kg to 23.5 kg), on bread (from 83kg to 74 kg) and on pork (from 18 kg to 15 kg). Wine consumption fell

from 10.8 to 9.2 litres and beer from 20.8 to 18.2 litres. However, there was a slight incre-ase in spirits consumed by each family mem-ber from 0.6 to 0.8 litres year-on-year.

The top decile of households (€19,754) spent 25% of income on food. Their spending was predominantly on clothing and fo-otwear, transport and restaurants, whereas in the lowest decile of ho-useholds’ food expenditure amoun-ted to 47%. However, at both ends of the spectrum, expenditure on com-munication (telephony services and device purchase) showed an almost similar level: 4.24% among the poorest and 5.18% among the wealthiest.

7.9% of families with housing loans Reduced potato and milk purchasesCommunication, communication

households recorded a housing and energy cost growth (from €1,295 to €1,502), transport (from €1,037 to €1,145), as well as other goods and services (from €723 to €881). Food and soft

drinks purchases increased from €3,170 in 2005 to €3,346 in 2009.Average household income originated from company em-ployment (54.5%), from reti-rement allowances (17.6%),

individual activity (15%) and transfers and other revenue (12%). Only 0.88% of average household income (€104) came from property income. Unem-ployment benefit was virtually

unchanged, at 0.78% or €93. According to the survey, the top decile of households had an annual income of €28,855, whilst that for the lowest decile stood at €2,242.

Bread 74,2 kgHam, sausages etc.

15,7 kg Milk 76,9 l Apples 14,6 kg

Flour 23,5 kg Fish 7,1 kg Oil 13,1 l Bananas 10,1 kg

Pasta 9,2 kg Potatoes 40,3 kg Mineral water 29 l Pears 1,8 kg

Rice 4,4 kg Cheese 7,9 kgSparklingdrinks

12,3 lGreen vegetables

10,7 kg

Pork 15,8 kg Milk products 17,3 kg Voćni sokovi 16 l Legumes 19,1 kg

Beef 9,2 kg Sugar 11,9 kgAlcoholic drinks

0,8 lRoot vegetables

14,8 kg

Veal 1,9 kg Coffee 3,4 kg Wine 9,2 l Chocolate 1,8 kg

Chicken 18,2 kg Eggs 148 Beer 18,2 l Ice cream 1,9 l

Average food consumption per family member, 2009.

Source: DZS

3


Jozo Vrdoljak

Marin Bosotina is the owner of the company Chrono, which owns

one of the most modern and big-gest medical facilities in Croatia and the region, the medical cen-tre Analiza in Dugopolje. Bos-otina is also the director of this institution, which is currently only partly operational.

How did you venture into the construction of the medical centre Analiza?Analiza is owned by Chrono, which is owned by two of my companies, with central offices in Switzerland and Spain. The project for the centre’s construc-tion was initiated six years before, when we started to search for its possible location. We opted for Dugopolje for its excellent posi-tion, since I am aware that a sea view is not necessary for a medical centre, but rather its accessibility, ease of communication and cover-age. Our centre covers the area of Dalmatia and part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It provides us with the potential for developing medi-cal tourism in Dalmatia, with great accommodation capacity.

What is the value of the Analiza project?The medical centre is located over 11,400 m2 and when the building is completely equipped, we will have 240 nursing beds in 120 rooms, 7 operating rooms, laboratories, surgeries, complete

radiology diagnostics and vari-ous other services, including res-taurants and parking space.

What is currently operational?We finished the building with sev-en flours, a diagnostics area and a department of polyclinics. It will be completed by the end of the year. We are in the final phase of arranging the incoming of a stra-tegic foreign partner. For now I am able to say it is a partner from Austria and the owner of 120 hos-pitals in 20 countries. In addition to funding, the partner will also bring part of its know-how. The investment should amount to roughly €35 million. The medical centre Analiza has been and will continue to be equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. More-over, we have invested greatly in our staff and we are still interested in top medical experts. Our partner is of great value to us, since it will provide us with much better health services and it could also open the market of private health insurance.

You started your work in October 2010. Are you satis-fied with results?I must say the results exceed our expecta-tions. Our advantage is that a patient can receive complete service in one

day and one place, starting from arrival, admission, radiology and laboratory processing by special-ists. There are certain surgical p r o c e -dures

which can be performed in the same day. In operating proce-dures we use endoscopy in or-thopaedics, gynaecology, surgery and urology. Analiza has a team of top experts in addition to state of the art equipment. The cen-tre currently employs 50 staff, aiming at a total of 240 medical workers when the project is com-pleted.

What is your view on the level of health services in Croatia?We have a solid health system

considering the amount of money we pay for it.

We owe this mostly to the majority of

health workers in health institu-tions. Regard-ing private health servic-es, it is basi-cally devel-oped, at least the surgeries are. How-ever, the health sys-tem must be consol idat-ed. A patient

cannot visit five different

locations in or-der to solve his

problem. As in the case of trading cen-

tres where small individual stores congregated in one

place, I am sure the same will happen with medical services.

MARIN BOSOTINA, OWNER OF CHRONO

Everything in one place in one day As in the case of trading centres, where small individual stores congregated in one place, the same will happen with medical services

for Analiza with 240 nursing beds

35 million 120 rooms ( (


Krešimir Sočković

Forty kilometres north of Zagreb and with a population of over 1500

people lies the municipality of Bedenica, which can be proud of its zero unemployment rate. There are three private compa-nies, employing in the region of 250 workers, and this small municipality produces two food brands from the Zagreb County – Grof ham and Dragec cheese. In its second biggest village of Beloslavec, there is one of the two remaining small dairies in the County of Zagreb – Euro Milk dairy. During its 12 years existence, the dairy increased to 27 employees, with an an-

nual income in 2009 exceed-ing €2.19 million. In addition to fresh milk and cheese, they expanded their production to cottage and cream cheeses, but-ter, fermented products, spreads and the crowning jewel of their range - local Dragec cheeses. The company was founded in 1998 by Ivica Kudelić and

Božidar Kuzmić, investing €50,000 in the construction of their business facility. They took out a loan for another €250,000 for equipment. Six years later, after having decided to produce

their trade mark, they researched the market and found the name for their brand - Dragec cheese.

Numerous awardsTheir increasing customer base proves the quality of this prod-uct, and the increasing demand as well as numerous awards in Croatia and the region turned it into original Croatian product. Last year they produced some 25 tonnes of cheese (60,000 in-dividual pieces), and currently they purchase around 15,000

litres of milk from 250 subcon-tractors. “This year, we are planning to obtain equipment to automate production. Therefore, we will apply for the tender for IPARD projects. I hope we will success-fully conclude this investment by the end of the year, as we estimate its value to be €0.41 to €0.48 mil-lion. We want to build waste wa-ter filters, a line for the automatic washing of products and an auto-matic filler,” adds Kuzmić. “We wish to preserve the identity of our products and we find it quite important we are able to say this product derives from Croatian farms. Our products and Dragec cheeses must be produced from local milk,” concludes Kuzmić.

Under the most difficult of con-ditions, the Croatian process-ing industry has reduced both total income and expenditure during the first nine months of 2010. This has led to a reduction in overall gross profits. Accord-ing to data from the Financial Agency, during that period a to-tal of €12.62 billion in income and €12.15 billion in expenditure were recorded. Therefore, gross profit totalled €0.48 billion. Total income decreased by 4.4% over 2009, and total expenditure by 3.6%, with gross profits slump-ing by 20.4%.Employment has decreased by 5.1% (on the basis of working hours), as well as average month-ly nett salaries (-0.5%). Employ-ees of entrepreneurs, who are tax payers, received an average nett salary of €602.20.Not all entrepreneurs operated with positive financial results. On average, every third company has been operating at a loss during the past ten months. Even though final financial results have not been established for the first nine

months of 2010, it can be said that all those whose income exceeded expenditure, operated with gross profits. Of 10,924 entrepreneurs in the processing industry, 6,362 or 58% operated with gross prof-its, and 4,562 or 42% registered gross losses. Gross profits achieved by the industry during the first nine months of 2010 were also the highest compared with all other activities. In the past, the highest level of gross profit was achieved by traders. However, the eco-nomic crisis in 2010 effectively reduced gross profits from trade compared with the first nine months of 2009, decreasing 44.8% and achieving only €0.44 billion in gross profit. (V.A.)

Huge divergences in both county and regional develop-ment are characteristic of the Croatian economy, as has been shown by entrepreneurs tax payers’ business results in the period January and October last year.According to the Financial agency FINA data, Zagreb plays a dominant role, followed by Split-Dalmatia, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Zagreb surroundings, Is-tria and Osijek-Baranja with Vi-rovitica-Podravina and Požega-Slavonia at the bottom of the list followed by Lika-Senj as the convincingly least-developed of all counties. Huge differences in develop-ment can be seen in the number of entrepreneurs, the numbers employed, total revenue and to-tal gross profit within counties. Zagreb is dominant with a share of 33.6% of the total number of Croatian entrepreneurs (30,288), in numbers employed (39.1% or 334,935), in total revenue (51.9% and €30.76 billion), in total ex-penditure (51.6% and €28.99 bil-lion) and its 59.6% share of total

gross profit of Croatian entrepre-neurs (€1.29 billion).Lika-Senj county, the least devel-oped county, has a meagre 0.6% of the number of entrepreneurs (530), a 0.5% share (4,401) in numbers employed and a paltry 0.3% (€0.15 billion) of total rev-enue, 0.2% (€0.15 billion) of to-tal expenditure and a 0.8% share (€17.12 million) of total gross profits of Croatian entrepreneurs.ver the first nine months in 2009 the average monthly nett em-ployee salary in Lika-Senj county was €462.60, some 25.7% lower than the average employee salary (€622.20). (V.A.)

PROCESSING INDUSTRY DURING FIRST NINE MONTHS OF 2010

Gross profit of €0.48 billion

COUNTY DEVELOPMENT

Zagreb dominance

EURO-MILK DAIRY

Exclusively local Through its brand and in the midst of crisis a small dairy registered sales growth and ventured into new investment


A t the end of 2010, num-bers unemployed reached almost 320,000 and the

unemployment rate climbed to 18.8% the highest since March 2005. Over the full year, unem-ployment stood at a higher level than in 2009. This is confirmed by the average unemployment rate, which stood at 17.6% in 2010 and 14.9% in 2009. The higher unemployment rate in 2010 was a consequence of the real sector still not having recov-ered. Considering the labour mar-ket responds one to two quarters later to activities in the real sec-tor, the unemployment rate is cer-tain to continue through the first quarter of 2011. More favour-able movements and any halt in negative trends are not expected before the end of the second quar-ter. They will be influenced by the basis effect, seasonal growth of employment and slightly more intense economic activity. Year-on-year, we expect a higher av-erage unemployment rate than in 2010. It will range around 18.5%, opine RBA analysts. As with Croatia, unemployment grew in most regional countries, affected mainly by seasonal ac-tivities. The fact that countries within the Central and Eastern European region which exited the recession, have still not re-covered, points to a very sensi-tive labour market. Moreover, the recovery remains unstable on la-bour markets in developed coun-tries (USA and Germany). We can thereby anticipate that unemploy-ment in Croatia will remain the focal point during the entire year, conclude RBA analysts. (V.A.)

Imex bank profit increase by 90%Imex bank profit for 2010 amounted to €1.40 million, whilst total assets increased by 18.12% to €0.22 billion. Accord-ing to preliminary unaudited fi-nancial reports, total Imex bank loans amounted to €0.15 billion, an increase of 27.29% with re-spect to the end of 2009. Total revenue amounted to €18.63 mil-lion, an increase of 20.08% over the end of 2009.

Slatinska bank profit decrease by 60%Slatinska bank achieved an af-ter-tax profit of €0.32 million in 2010, some 60% lower than 2009, according to a preliminary unaudited financial report issued at the Zagreb Stock Exchange. Total bank assets increased to €0.17 billion, an increase of some 13%. Loans to financial institutions were more than halved from €7.19 million to €3.36 million, whilst other client loans in-creased from €82.85 million to €86.71million.

Ingra redeem two tranches of commercial paperIngra has announced the success-ful redemption of the 9th tranche of commercial paper with a nom-inal value of €7.06 million and the 10th tranche of commercial paper with a nominal value of €3.01 million. Both tranches matured on 28th January 2011 and have been redeemed in part through re-ceivables conversion into core capital and in part by issuing new tranches. On 25th January the 13th tranche was issued totalling €3.676 million with a maturity date of 24th January 2012, and the 14th tranche amounting to €1.64 million with maturity date of 26th July 2011.

CROATIAN FOREIGN CURRENCY MARKET

Source: HNB WEEK JANUARY 29, 2011

Currency Kuna exchange mid-rate

AUD 5,354734

CAD 5,421359

JPY 6,525020

CHF 5,709707

GBP 8,566211

USD 5,393333

EUR 7,407203

LABOUR MARKET

AVERAGE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OF 18.5% IN 2011

::: news

More favourable movements and any halt in negative trends are not expected before the end of the second quarter

24.1. 25.1. 26.1. 27.1. 28.1

7.43

7.42

7.41

7.40

7.39

7.38

EUR 5.46

5.44

5.40

5.38

5.36

4.34

USD 4.74

4.72

4.70

4.68

4.66

4.64

CHF

24.1. 25.1. 26.1. 27.1. 28.1 24.1. 25.1. 26.1. 27.1. 28.1


W aste water filters are an important element in the design of facilities,

around which rain carries waste oil, detergent and other hazardous substances into the ground. In-vestors are interested in efficient and cost-effective filters. This market niche was discovered by the company Korona from Ri-jeka, which has been producing and designing filters for waste water from rainfall, technological and industrial origins, since 1992. They also produce filters for fae-cal waste water, fat-separators for restaurant kitchens and facilities of the food industry. Their equip-ment is suitable for the chemi-cal treatment of waste water of laundrettes, concrete factories and similar facilities. In 2009, they were awarded the Zlatna kuna from the CCE from Rijeka for their innovative products, which are ISO 9001 certified. Separators of oily water from Ko-rona ISU are used by many plants and parking spaces of shopping centres and car showrooms, petrol stations, carwashes and boats. Fat and oil separators can

be found in hotels, restaurants, slaughterhouses, fish processing plants, butcheries and dairies. Their Bio module, which repre-sents a contemporary substitute for septic tanks are installed in many facilities along the coast which are unable to connect to a public sewage system.

€0.62 million incomeKorona has so far delivered around 2,500 different filter-ing systems. These devices are characterised by low investment expense, easy fitting, low main-tenance costs, whilst processed water is not hazardous to under-ground waterways. The company was established by engineer, Tomislav Knežević. It employs 10-12 workers, depend-ing on market activities. During the past two years, their income has been around €0.62 million, with profit between 10% and 12%. They aim to compensate for reduced investment in con-struction through finding new customers in Croatia and abroad and with a new emphasis on their product quality. (I.V.)

T he Oskar Centre for De-velopment and Quality is a Zagreb company or-

ganising Postgraduate Specialist Programme for quality manag-ers, consulting and seminars in various business fields, mainly management quality promotion oriented and focused on man-agement system building and

leadership. The company has a subsidiary, the Ros-Kar Centre for Development and Quality in Sarajevo and co-operates with partner companies in Belgrade and Moscow. Programmes are organised according to the Eu-ropean Organisation for Quality (EOQ) harmonised scheme.“Oskar Edukos, an institution for staff certification, and EOQ have been business partners since 2005 when Oskar Edukos became a certified PRU (Pru-dential) agent for Croatia. Oskar Edukos’s mission is the regular

monitoring of current and fu-ture clients’ growing expecta-tions and their satisfaction with the services provided. The work quality is guaranteed by The Na-tional Accreditation Service reg-ular annual supervision (HAA) and EOQ supervision”, pointed out Anita Bešker, Head of Train-ing and EOQ accredited agent for Croatia. In addition, Oskar has specialised in advanced higher education staff training in order to provide comprehensive support to private individuals and institutions in applying con-temporary management methods and knowledge to training qual-ity management.

Optimal tuition impactOskar offers a broad range of business skills and business knowledge advanced training possibilities through teaching modules consisting of a bal-anced combination of theoreti-cal cognition and interactive sessions.“The training is adapted to par-ticipants’ background knowl-edge levels in the field of busi-ness training, whilst tuition groups are optimal tuition-cycle impact-oriented both by the work method and by their size. Lecturers are prominent pro-fessionals holding European quality organisation certificates in management in various pro-fessional fields”, added Anita Bešker. (J.V.)

KORONA, RIJEKAOSKAR, CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND QUALITY, ZAGREB

Innovative waste water filtersThe production of filters for faecal waste water, fat-separators for restaurant kitchens and of food industry facilities

Quality an imperativeThe company promotes a broad range of training possibilities in business skills and specialist knowledge through teaching modules

WE PRESENT


::: news

Sanja Plješa

I t is known that tourist trends have changed. Visitors now ask for higher added value

when they travel. Even though Croatia is a popular tourist des-tination, people have recently be-come more aware of what should be offered to tourists. More at-tention is being paid to cultural events, and one such important event is the recently opened ex-hibition Art deco – Croatia be-

tween two World Wars in the Mu-seum of Arts and Crafts (MUO) in Zagreb. The exhibition will be open until the end of April, and visitors will be able to see over 600 exhibits from the collec-tion of MUO and several other museums. In their own specific way, the exhibits describe life in Croatia between two World Wars. Art Deco was a global phe-nomenon as an urban response to the syndrome of provincialism. A so called rich life developed in

cities at that time, but was unreal-istic, since the world was shaken by enormous economic problems in wartime. Although this period was quite unfamiliar in Croatia, many experts agree that art deco is not a style, but a definition of a certain spirit of the times. During the next three months, visitors will also be able to see paintings by Marijan Trepše, Sergije Glu-mac and Sava Šumanović, with their original blends of differing styles into a single unification.

Furthermore, exhibits include ball gowns, shoes and items from everyday use.

Promotion in neighbouring countriesThe “star” of the exhibition is drawing much visitor attention – the Peugeot 201 convertible, on loan from a French muse-um. Other exhibits have been loaned from museums, but also from private collectors from Dubrovnik, Klanjec, Koprivni-ca, Križevci, Opatija, Rijeka, Split and even Belgrade, from where caryatides by sculptor from Korčula, Frane Kršinić, ar-rived, according to Vesna Jurić Bulatović, head of marketing and PR in MUO. Within the context of a total cul-tural and tourist offer, this exhi-bition is tempting for local and foreign visitors, who are begin-ning to view Zagreb as a con-temporary cultural and tourism Mecca. The Vienna Tourist As-sociation recommends Austrians to visit the exhibition, and great interest has been shown in neigh-bouring countries. A special pro-motion of the Zagreb exhibition will soon be held throughout these countries.

Sea traffic surveillance in trial phaseThe Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS) was commissioned for its trial work. It should guarantee fewer accidents, improve search-and-rescue and offer more efficient intervention in cases of pollution. The system is organised in three regional centres and its full op-erating application is scheduled for January 1, 2012. The system includes 10 radar stations, valued at roughly €5 million.

First Croatian wind power plantRecently, Končar marked 90 years of operations by signing an agreement with the Bank for Reconstruction and Develop-ment and Zagrebačka banka. The agreement concerns the construc-tion of a wind power plant near Dugopolje. The plant will have 15 power units of 1 megawatt and one of 2.5 megawatts. Total investment is valued at €34.50 million, with €10.96 million hav-ing already been invested.

Croatia an important partner for JapanCroatia is faced with two types of crises. In addition to the cy-clic one, mostly caused by the global financial crisis, it is also faced with a deep structural cri-sis, a tougher one to fight, pointed out the Japanese ambassador in Croatia, Yoshio Tamura, at a lec-ture held in the Croatian Cham-ber of Economy. According to Tamura, it is of extreme impor-tance for Croatia to solve these structural problems in order to

achieve sustainable growth, even with the help of drastic measures. However, in order for these meas-ures to influence the stabilisation and development of the economy, their speedy implementation is of the utmost importance.

CULTURE IN TOURISM

Zagreb as cultural and tourist MeccaAt the exhibition Art Deco – Art in Croatia between two World Wars, open until the end of April visitors will be able to see over 600 exhibits

PV International 0138

Documents

Transcript of PV International 0138