Four specialised international trade fairs - a fair of the construction and equipment industry, a fair of tool machines and tool manufacturers, a welding and anti-corrosion fair, and a small businesses fair - opened at the Zagreb Trade Fair Centre on Tuesday.
The events have brought together 317 exhibitors from 25 countries who will be presenting their products and services until April 21.
Opening the fairs, Deputy Entrepreneurship and Crafts Minister Drazen Pros said the ministry would propose legislative changes and implement its Business Impulse programme to create a better environment for entrepreneurs.
Pros recalled that the first group of tenders for grants within the Business Climate programme had been announced. The second group of tenders will be announced this week and will be directed at education, while the third group will be published by the end of this month, focusing on the strengthening of competitiveness and new technologies, he said.
Pros said the government and the ministry were aware of problems encountered by small business owners such as illiquidity, uneven regional development of enterprise capacity and problems in accessing loans, adding that they would work to remove those problems.
The head of the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts, Dragutin Ranogajec, said he believed the most difficult years were behind, that a new investment cycle was about to begin, with investments to be made in modern technologies and creation of new services, and that the economic and social policies of the incumbent government would produce positive results on the eve of Croatia's EU accession.
