Programme description

Title: Economic Development and Employment Promotion (EDEP) Croatia
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Croatia
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship
Overall term: January 2005 to December 2009

Context

The growth of Croatia’s economy in recent years has been driven primarily by the thriving coastal region and by the urban centres around Zagreb. There are widening gaps in income between the coast and structurally weak locations in the interior of the country. Sector and industry-specific analyses confirm that many small and medium-sized enterprises will not survive Croatia’s accession to the EU in economic terms. High costs, low productivity and inadequate quality harm the competitive capacity of goods and services in the local, regional and international markets. State aid and private enterprise services are not enough to decisively improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in the time remaining before EU membership.

Objective

Business-oriented services promoting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) create favourable economic conditions and improve competitive capacities in selected sectors and regions. 

Approach

The project advises the government in implementing the National Programme for Integration of the Republic of Croatia into the EU. With GTZ support, the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship and Croatian industry and tourism associations are establishing market-oriented structures to promote small and medium-sized enterprises. Promotional strategies and instruments will be developed jointly. Among the components of the programme promoting tourism and the private sector:

• establishment of a competence centre for the wood and furniture industry
• development and marketing of nature-oriented tourism in structurally weak areas
• promotion of business cooperation (clusters)

In addition, partnership between trade associations will be initiated and promoted within the scope of a public-private-partnership programme.

Results achieved so far

The promotion of bicycle tourism along Slavonian rivers has generated numerous new tourist businesses. For instance, the number of Bike & Bed pensions in this region tripled in the past two years, enabling those living in this structurally weak area to find new sources of income.

Advisory service for the Lonjsko Polje Nature Park in West Slavonia in drawing up and implementing a marketing plan led to creation of new tourist attractions in the park. The number of visitors is steadily rising, leading to new jobs in this region, which has been hard hit by emigration.

A cluster-management manual composed by the project in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy is supporting Croatian cluster managers in their daily work. The manual has been requested by other countries and published in several languages.

Downloads

• Cluster Management – Handbuch Teil A: Überblick (GTZ 2007)
  de-wirtschaft-cluster-management-teil-a-2007.pdf, 0.69 MB (German)
• Cluster Management – Handbuch Teil B: Tools (GTZ 2007)
  de-wirtschaft-cluster-management-teil-b-2007.pdf, 1.08 MB (German)