SME EUROPE Conference on “Croatia – the New Player in the EU Internal Market”
PART I: “Business to Business” Workshop (at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation)
The 28th of November the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the Belgian-German Club and SME Europe invited high level speakers to attend a workshop on “Croatia – the new player in the EU Internal Market”.
After opening remarks from Dr. Stefan Gerold German Ambassador H.E. Dr. Eckart Cuntz said that Croatia is a sign of hope for the western Balkan states. He congratulated Croatia but also emphasized this is just a further step in moving into Europe. Many challenges like entering the European market successfully are still to be faced. He thinks that SMEs are the right topic for such a meeting since they are the ones creating jobs and deliver the success stories in export.
Goran Stefanic, Deputy Permanent Representative of Croatia to the EU, talked about the many possibilities the European single market has for SMEs. He detailed the situation of Croatia’s economy: 99% of Croatian companies are SMEs. Those 180.000 SMEs employ 75% of the workforce. He hopes that this event will further strengthen the relationship between Belgium, Germany, and Croatia.
Prof. Dr. Nikica Gabric, General Director of Svjetlost, spoke of his success as a private entrepreneur and how he achieved to outperform all state owned competition with his privately owned clinics. He focused on employing young people who are more motivated and cost less. Overall he could achieve a 200% higher profit with only 20% higher costs. Today 50% of operations are done on foreigners. Private Health clinics have a huge growth potential. In Norway operations are four times more expensive as in Croatia – so if quality is assured clientele like this is likely to travel to save costs.
Dejan Cvetkovic, Regional Technology Officer, Microsoft Central and Eastern Europe, presented Microsoft’s innovation approach they have for this region. Microsoft is building innovation centers to attract people from all over Europe to create value in Croatia. This should gather young people with entrepreneurial ideas to achieve economic growth. He sees the political will to change in Croatia positively especially to change the education system. This is important for IT companies like Microsoft as their sector needs highly educated people. Mr. Cvetkovic hopes that this will attract more foreign direct investment in the region.
Srdjan Sverko, Executive Director at Raiffeisenbank Austria, emphasized the important role banks have in this region to help SMEs and start-ups not only through direct finance but also knowledge how to get funds in general.
Phillipe de Marchant et d’Ansembourg, Founder and President of TERMICO talked about how Innovation helped his company to succeed in the difficult market of heating appliances.
Gallery “Business to Business – Workshop (at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation)”.
PART II: Conference Dinner – “Croatia’s adhesion to the EU: An Opportunity for Europe” (at the European Parliament)
The Conference continued with the dinner in the European Parliament.
In his welcome speech David CHMELIK, President, Belgian German Club emphasized the importance of SMEs for Croatia an important motor for growth and jobs in the whole region with micro and small enterprises accounting for nine out of every ten companies.
The event continued with a live musical prelude String Quartet N°2 op.11 “Lyrical quartet”, by Josip ŠTOLCER-SLAVENSKI.
Neven MIMICA, Member of the European Commission responsible for Consumer Protection, highlighted the increased capabilities of Croatian SMEs to access and tackle the EU internal market.
In his speech S.E.M. l’Ambassadeur François de KERCHOVE d’EXAERDE, Head of Cabinet of the Vice-Prime Minister stressed the significance of building on partnerships between academia, industry and government.
Stefan GEHROLD, KAS closed the event and invited everyone to enjoy the live music String Quartet N°2 op.6, by David CHMELIK.
Gallery “Conference Dinner – Croatia’s adhesion to the EU: An Opportunity for Europe”.
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