For Diplomacy & Commerce magazine, we have asked officials, ambassadors, directors and presidents of chambers of commerce for their opinion on political and economic challenges that awaits Croatia in 2020 and the key challenges on a global scale.
Andrea Perkov, secretary-general of lItalian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce for Diplomacy&Commerce says:
- What political and economic challenges await Croatia in 2020?
This is an extremely general question and I think it should be addressed more to the world of politics and diplomacy, but from the position of the Italian-Croatian Chamber of Commerce, as a representative of Italian investors in Croatia, we can speak about expectations regarding economic growth and even greater results of bilateral economic and investment cooperation. 2020 will be a challenging year for Croatia, as the presidential and parliamentary elections await us. Likewise, Croatia will preside over the EU for the first six months. All of these are challenges on the political and foreign policy scene, but the most important one is the internal economic investment climate, where we expect increased dialogue between politicians and business people, with the view of creating the best possible business climate. In doing so, labour, education and legal certainty for employers should be considered, and for new investors, an image of strategic development and measures to attract and then retain the investor should be very clear.
- What will be the key challenges on the global scale?
Every entrepreneur faces challenges in running a business, and the situation is more difficult when the business is located outside their home country, and certainly includes global issues in the business world.
In general, when deciding to do business abroad, it is extremely important to get up-to-date on key issues such as legislation, tax rules, accounting, costs, etc. If a business is multinational, then global trends and challenges should be taken into consideration.
Today, the business of multinational companies is a completely natural thing and the data collated by experts who are monitoring the economic situations are available to us. The advice is certainly to reach out to those who can help and facilitate our business with their knowledge and business advice. Speaking of concrete challenges, I would underline the fluctuation of the workforce and the digital age, which we must be synchronized with and follow the tide.