State Secretary Zdenko Lucić participated in the Investment Forum of Istria, Primorje and the Croatian Highlands – Lider Invest West, held online.
In his keynote address, Lucić, who is also a member of the Lider Invest Committee of Experts, applauded the project as well as Lider’s overall work on promoting Croatian economy.
Addressing a panel on “Creating Investment Climate and Financing Investments in Istria, Primorje and the Croatian Highlands”, Lucić said that despite the pandemic most of Croatia’s production had come out relatively unscathed, unlike other sectors such as tourism and transport. He underscored the importance of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Multiannual Financial Framework, through which Croatia will have over EUR 14 billion at its disposal in the next 10 years.
The state secretary noted the growing trend of nearshoring, which keeps European investments in Europe for the sake of its market. Multinational companies are turning towards Central and Eastern Europe, instead of the Far East. The pandemic has shown us that the countries’ first reaction was to close the borders, meaning that in the period ahead one can expect the shortening of supply chains. Lucić also underlined that Croatia had the potential to attract more production investments, with national and EU funds as stimulus.