Minister Grabar-Kitarović and Head of EC Delegation to Croatia Vincent Degert presented the IPA pre-accession program

Minister Grabar-Kitarović presented the assistance programs programming and management system in Croatia and Croatia’s preparations for managing the IPA, pointing out Croatia’s efforts to increase its administrative capability and absorption capacity for the pre-accession assistance programs.

Head of the EC Delegation Degert expressed his satisfaction with Croatia’s readiness and the results achieved so far in using the EU assistance programs.

The IPA pre-accession program is important for Croatia’s future activities in acceding to the EU as, according to the EU financial perspective for 2007-2013, the existing programs PHARE (Pologne-Hongrie Actions pour la Reconversion Economique), ISPA (Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession), SAPARD (Special Accession Program for Agriculture and Rural Development) and CARDS (Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stability) will be replaced with the IPA.

The IPA Pre-accession program consists of five components: institutional development, cross-border co-operation, regional development, human potential development, and rural development.