The total amount available to Croatian businesses is 3.2 million euros. Individual grants range from 50,000 to 200,000 euros, and the tender is open from December 19 this year to February 20, 2012.

The purpose of the tender is to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises by encouraging investment in technologies and manufacturing methods that promote the green economy. It also aims to strengthen the development potential for new and competitive products in line with ecological and other international standards.

The workshop was opened by Enterprise Minister Gordan Maras, who said that both Croatia and the European Union attached great importance to small and medium enterprises as the principal motors of development, innovation and employment.

Maras said that small and medium enterprises accounted for more than 99 per cent of all businesses in the country, employing two-thirds of the national work force, and that it was vital that the government provide maximum support to that branch of the economy.

The new government aims to create a more favourable business environment to facilitate employment. "We want the entrepreneurs to have as few administrative barriers as possible and we want the state administration to be in the service of enterprises so that they can do business more easily," he said, adding that his ministry would work on increasing the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises.

Maras called on entrepreneurs to use the pre-accession time to better adjust to business conditions on the EU market.