Address of H. E.
Gordan Jandroković, Minister of Foreign Affairs
and European Integration of the Republic of Croatia
at the Nippon Keidanren – Japan Business Federation
Tokyo, 9th September 2010
Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the beginning I would
like to express my pleasure of being here at Nippon Keidanren, an
organisation of such range and importance for the business community of
Japan.
The aim of my first official visit to Japan is to explore
ways of adding new substance to all facets of the bilateral
relationship between Croatia and Japan.
This certainly includes strengthening the economic ties between our two
countries.
And it is my firm belief that this gathering at Nippon Keidanren is a
good starting point to do precisely that.
We
should certainly explore the manifold business opportunities so as to
enhance the economic cooperation between our two countries for the
mutual benefit of our peoples.
To many of us in Croatia, Japan is
a wonderful example of what can be achieved with vision and
determination, creativity and skill matched with a lot of hard work.
In this regard, Japan certainly serves as an example to Croatia.
Since its independence, almost twenty years ago, Croatia has followed a
consistent foreign and economic policy.
Within this period, Croatia managed to transform its economy from a
centrally planned system to a free market economy.
On
the foreign policy track, from the beginning a consensus has existed
amongst all parliamentary parties regarding Croatia's ambitions to
become a member of NATO and a member of the European Union.
The first goal has been achieved.
As you might know, Croatia joined NATO in April last year.
And our goal of joining the European Union is within reach.
We
are, as I like to put it, running the final lap in our EU accession
negotiations, determined to achieve the goal of EU membership in 2012.
Let
me point out that Croatia's pursuit of membership of the European Union
is logical both in a historic and a contemporary sense.
In political, economic and cultural terms, membership of the Union is
almost a natural progression.
However, in this pursuit, Croatia does not lose out of sight all its
other relationships and priorities.
This
point can be best brought out by paraphrasing a former Croatian
president who said that „however important Europe is to it, Croatia
feels and understands that Europe is not the World and the World is not
Europe“.
Today we all have to look beyond our borders
and shores, because the processes and challenges of today’s world are
not contained within our national spheres.
And this is more than
obvious, for instance when we consider the effects of the global
financial and economic crisis, the effects of which are still felt in
Croatia.
In order to induce economic recovery, the Croatian Government
introduced a set of measures.
Only
last week the government reviewed the budget, with the aim to
additionally support economic development while taking into account the
social dimension of the crisis.
The problems of the real economy
are mitigated by the improving results of the service sector and in
particular tourism which is returning to its pre-crisis results.
Despite the latest challenges, the main foreign economic policies in
Croatia remain unchanged.
And these are efforts to bolster exports and efforts to attract foreign
investments.
For this reason, we are constantly improving the framework for doing
business in Croatia.
Ladies and gentlemen,
There is considerable potential to enhance the bilateral economic
cooperation between Croatia and Japan.
In
Croatia’s view, the time is right to turn to exploring higher forms of
partnership with Japanese companies, to intensifying the exchange of
know-how, to encouraging foreign direct investments or engaging in
joint ventures.
And this is what encouraged us to organize this gathering.
The
economic relationship between Croatia and Japan is frequently viewed
through the bilateral trade figures consisting of a large deficit on
the Croatian side.
In this regard, if we want to reach a more
balanced trade exchange, other elements have to be included into the
equation, such as tourism, investments and greater use of Croatia's
infrastructural facilities.
And here I mean free zones, ports, railways, and so forth.
As a major world exporter, Japan is one of the greatest users of
maritime transport in the world.
With
that in mind, I would like to draw your attention to Rijeka, as
Croatia's major port, which is economically the most logical gateway to
Central Europe.
It offers a five day advantage over Rotterdam and
a seven day advantage over Hamburg for all containerised cargo from the
East and Far East intended to reach the markets of Central and Eastern
Europe.
This advantage will be even more evident when Croatia
becomes a member of the EU, and when the reconstruction of the existing
railway line from Rijeka to Hungary is completed.
Croatia's
infrastructure is already highly developed, and it was precisely the
Zagreb-Split freeway where Japanese capital has found its way to the
Croatian market.
Since Japan is one of the most important investors
in the world, we would appreciate a more pronounced interest of
Japanese investors in Croatia.
We would welcome Japanese greenfield
investments in Croatia in fields such as parts production for the
automobile industry, electric equipment manufacturing, fishing, organic
food production, and so on.
The economic field in which Croatia has seen very encouraging positive
trends throughout the last decade is tourism.
According to various reviews over the past few years, Croatia is
becoming one of the top tourist destinations worldwide.
In
order to facilitate tourist travel from Japan to Croatia, we have
started negotiations on the Air Service Agreement between our two
countries.
We are extremely pleased that Japanese tourists are
already choosing Croatia as their holiday destination in increasing
numbers, which in 2009 has exceeded 160 000.
And it is our hope that Japanese investors will follow.
Many other niches for cooperation certainly exist and should be further
explored.
For
instance, the large Japanese corporation Yazaki has an important part
of its Research and Development located in the capital of
Zagreb.
It already employs several dozen Croatian engineers and technicians
and is currently considering extending its operations in Croatia.
In order to make the most out of our economic cooperation, we are also
seeking ways to increase Croatia’s export to Japan.
In this regard, diversification is precisely what we need.
As an illustration, it suffices to say that tuna fish makes up more
than 90 % of Croatia's exports to Japan.
By all means, Croatian tuna is an excellent product.
However,
other high quality Croatian brands such as beer, wine, spirits,
truffles, seasonings and condiments, could find their way to the
shelves of Japanese supermarkets.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Croatia’s
free, open, transparent market offers a competitive advantage in terms
of its geographical location and inter-European traffic connections.
Even
though there might exist certain structural differences between our
economies, we should seek for ways to make full use of the competitive
advantages that we can offer to each other.
Possibilities are
numerous, which is why the improvement of Croatian-Japanese economic
and trade cooperation should receive the attention it certainly
deserves.
And it is my sincere hope that gatherings like this one
will contribute to fostering both opportunities to diversify Croatian
exports to Japan, as well as induce a new investment cycle of Japanese
companies in Croatia.
I can assure you that regarding your doing
business in Croatia, you will always find an open door and a strong
support of the Croatian Government.
Thank you for your attention!
