The Club’s vision is that development of one neighbour is beneficial to the other. The Club wants to encourage the establishment of links between businesses and other important economic policy stakeholders, and their mutual dialogue with the view of treating each other as friends, associates and partners in the end and establishing trust.
The SLO CRO Business Club, comprising of Slovenian and Croatian business people, was founded in 2002 as a non-profit association with the view of organizing and bolstering the economic relations between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia. Considering the sheer number of Slovenian business people in Croatia and vice versa, the Club hopes to have 100 members quite soon.
Currently, the Club has close to 50 members, namely Slovenian business people in Croatia and Croatian business people in Slovenia, as well as friends who have an interest in the club and see it as an opportunity to have business meetings and socialize with business community. “Our goal is to promote, develop and improve the Slovenian-Croatian cooperation in all aspects of economic and social life. We have a very diverse membership and it is exactly this diversity that is an advantage that helps us to get acquainted with each other’s problems and share experiences in solving them,” says Saša Muminović, President of the SLO CRO Business Club, CFO and a member of the Managing Board of AquafilCRO d.o.o. (Croatia) and a member of the Managing Board of AquafilSLO d.o.o. (Slovenia).
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How do you rate the business climate in Croatia?
The Aquafil Group has been present in Croatia since 2001, so I have been following the development of the business climate in Croatia very closely. Generally speaking, the business climate has improved in many segments over the past 15 years.
Of course it’s still far from what we want it to be, but still, we must not be malicious and criticize everything. It is easy to criticize and do nothing. Business climate is created by central government, local government, and business people themselves through their own actions. Aquafil has excellent experiences with various ministries in Zagreb, as well as with Krapina-Zagorje county and the town of Oroslavje. We have to ask foreign investors what did they do and how much they have contributed to the development of the business climate.
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How does the Club contribute to boosting the business links between the two countries?
There are two pillars that the Slovenian-Croatian relations rest on – understanding there is a misunderstanding of the political agenda (despite the two countries being close in historical, language and geographical terms) and excellent economic relations that have been developing in the shadow of the first pillar for two decades. The best indicator of this is the external trade between the two countries, which value, in 2012, amounted to EUR 2.3 billion and EUR 3.7 billion in 2017. In the first six months of this year, according to data collated by the Statistics Bureau of Slovenia, the value of the trade has already reached EUR 1.99 billion, which is 6.1% more than the same period last year.
The Club’s vision is that the development of one neighbour is beneficial to the other. There is a saying that goes „together we are stronger“. But, in order to be together, we need to meet, socialize and get to know each other better. Through socializing, we are going to establish contacts and eliminate prejudices. The Club wants to encourage the establishment of links between businesses and other important economic policy stakeholders, and their mutual dialogue with the view of treating each other as friends, associates and partners in the end and establishing trust.
While working on reaching this goal, a little bit of wining and dining certainly comes in handy. Although this is a short-term pleasure, it has long-term benefits.
Apart from organizing business breakfasts / meetings, the Club has been one of the organizers of the conference titled „Can the Croatian tourism do it 365?“ for the second consecutive year. Also, for a couple of years now, we have been participating in the Celje Trade Fair, and this year, at the Zagorje Business Gathering in Krapina. Next year, we are planning to substantially expand the scope and the number of events for our members.
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Do you also face challenges when Slovenian and Croatian companies are doing business together? How do you solve them?
The challenges we are facing today are considerably different from those 15 years ago. They are not just the product of the activity or inactivity of the country in which a company operates, but also of global trends that cannot be ignored. Fifteen years ago, global growth was a constant and it was implied. Back then, in Croatia, it was also important to do more and to have a strategy to attract as many investments as possible. However, the crisis gave us all a rude awakening. We have seen how vulnerable an economy can be, what it means to be or not to be part of the European market, and what does Euro mean as a bulk currency. Today, the focus is more on workforce, sustainability of development, digitalisation and social responsibility.
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Are you satisfied with the quality of communication with the Croatian government? How do you communicate your initiatives for changing regulations and practices?
Generally speaking, we are, but that does not mean we should not strive to improve. This also depends on the impact that the SLO CRO Business Club has and how big is our membership.
At our gatherings, like business breakfasts, we try to have eminent guests from political and economic world from both countries, and in an informal environment, to inform them about the issues that are of interest to us or our members. We were honoured to have been able to have ministers from Slovenian and Croatian ministries on several occasions. Our guest at the last business breakfast in September 2018, was the Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy in the Government of Croatia, Dr. Tomislav Ćorić. In 2017, the Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Martina Dalić, and State Secretary Mr. Mario Antonić, were our guests, and before them, the Minister of Construction and Spatial Planning, Mr. Lovro Kuščević joined us at the breakfast. In 2016, our guest was the Minister for Economic Development and Technology in the Government of Slovenia, Zdravko Počivalšek, MBA.
Apart from state officials I would also like to mention other guest such as renowned businessmen Davor Majetić and Bernard Jakelić from the Croatian Employers Association, Marjan Bagatelj (from the Slovenian Business Club and Director of the company that manages the Postojna Cave), Vedrana Jelušić Kašić from the EBRD, Ladislav Artnik from SID Bank, Primož Karpe, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of NLB etc.
I would also like to say a few words about our last business breakfast during which we had a presentation about the permanent mobility platform EDISON (Eco Driving Innovative Solutions and Networking), and our plans on the transfer of knowledge between Slovenia and Croatia via this platform. At the same time, we also had a presentation of the results and plans of the Croatian Ministry for Environment and Energy in the energy and renewable sources segment.
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Do you and in which way encourage networking between your members and members of other domestic and foreign business associations in Croatia?
We strive to connect with institutions and organizations from both countries: chambers of commerce, employers’ associations, the Croatian Business Council for Sustainable Development, ministries and government agencies from both countries and related business clubs so that our social gatherings are more current, attractive and interesting.
We have the help of the Embassy of Slovenia in Zagreb, the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, and the SPIRIT Agency, which also financially supports the activities of the SLO CRO Business Club. We would not be able to carry out all of our activities without SPIRIT’s support.
I would also like to mention personal efforts made by the current ambassador, H.E. Ms Smiljana Knez, PhD, and the former economic adviser, Jakob Štunf, MBA. I am especially glad about the continuous support that we receive from the embassy regardless of the changes in their staff.