Nippon Keidanren – Japan Business Federation

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!