Croatian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Darko Horvat and Slovenian Minister of Economic Development and Technology Darko Počivalšek said on Friday that Croatian-Slovenian economic cooperation has a good trend and both economies have similar problems, one being a labour shortage.
The two ministers met in Mokrice as part of a business conference organised by the SLO CRO Business Club in honour of the two countries’ statehood days.
Počivalšek underscored that economic cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia had positive trends and that trade had reached 5.5 billion euro last year, an increase of 11% on the previous year.
He said that during the talk with Horvat he had raised important economic issues including cooperation during Croatia’s presidency of the Council of Europe in the first half of next year and Slovenia’s presidency in the second half of 2021.
“That is a period when we will have conditions to advance our economies and resolve matters that burden relations between our countries,” Počivalšek said.
Horvat said that he had opened dialogue with Počivalšek on topics that are essential for Croatia, such as growth in industrial production, quality investment and exports.
Horvat noted that Slovenia exports almost 84% of all its products, hoping that in exchanging experience Croatia will be able to adopt some elements of Slovenia’s export policy.
It was agreed that state-secretaries begin preparing joint economic commissions, which had existed until 2012. Four of five areas will be defined where potential exists for joint ventures on the single European market and on third markets, Horvat announced.
The ministers agreed that Croatia and Slovenia have identical problems with regard to shortages of skilled labour.
The president of the SLO CRO Business Club Saša Muminović underscored that the conference has attracted more than 100 entrepreneurs from the two countries and that this is a great opportunity to conclude business deals, strengthen old acquaintances and make new contacts.
He believes economic cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia is excellent, but that it is high time unresolved political issues were resolved.
“The perception of poor political relations has its repercussions for the economy. Whether we like it or not, the underlying fact that unresolved issues exist always crops up. It is necessary to cut the knot and find a compromise,” Muminović said.
