During his official visit to Croatia, Ireland's President Michael Higgins and his host, President Ivo Josipovic, on Friday met with representatives of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, the Croatian Employers' Association and representatives of some of Croatia's largest companies and exporters to the Irish market.
Addressing the meeting, President Josipovic underscored the friendship that existed between the two countries which was confirmed through Ireland's assistance during Croatia's EU accession process. President Higgins pointed out that his visit to Croatia was his first official visit to a foreign country and particularly because it had come now when Ireland is chairing the European Union.
As Croatia approaches full EU membership, it is important to further strengthen relations and to promote common interests, primarily in the field of agriculture, tourism and fisheries and related industries which are vital for the economic sector in both countries, said President Josipovic.
Unfortunately, the scope of economic relations between the two countries until now has been quite modest, Croatia had a significant foreign trade deficit and has not managed to increase its exports. That has to change for the simple reason that Croatia has to seek room for economic recovery through exports, President Josipovic underlined, which makes Ireland interesting, particularly with regard to possible export of wood, furniture, food, and other native Croatian products.
Croatia's exports to Ireland last year amounted to a mere EUR 7.8 million, while imports from that country amounted to EUR 73.4 million.
Tourism is particularly important for both countries, President Higgins said, adding that in Ireland around 200,000 people are employed in this branch. Around seven million tourists brings in a revenue of around EUR 5 billion each year.
Another interesting prospect lies in the creative industry which employs around six million people in the EU and has never gone into recession, said President Higgins.
He reflected on Ireland's experience during recession and explained the lesson learned - the country had to move away from the imported 'speculative' economy or the domestic growth model based on real estate and returned to the real economy which has begun to bring positive results in economic growth even though this was still at a modest level of 0.9% in 2012.
