Press Release - Annual General Assembly of American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia

• First Vice-President: John Mathias Gašparac, Country Managing Partner, PwC Croatia
• Second Vice-President: Rina Musić, Managing Director Croatia and Slovenia, Merck Sharp & Dohme d.o.o.
• Untitled Governor: Bojan Poljičak, Country Manager, Adcubum d.o.o.

AmCham has again marked an increase in membership this year, and it represents companies which employ over 91,000 people in Croatia, which proves the continuous quality of its work. Companies based in the US and Croatia as well as other international companies comprise more than 260 members of the American Chamber of Commerce. As the oldest foreign chamber in Croatia, for over 20 years AmCham has been strongly contributing to the improvement of business operations by advocating the best business practices as well as a range of recommendations for making Croatia an attractive investment destination, and it has been distinguished as one of the most successful business organizations of the Croatian private sector. These are exceptional results, especially considering that AmCham is an independent, non-profit, and non-governmental organization funded exclusively by its membership.

The coronavirus outbreak has not hindered AmCham’s efforts to advocate public policies. On the contrary, the pandemic and its direct effects on the economy and business practices have intensified AmCham’s activities. During 2020 AmCham continued to actively work on initiatives to improve the business climate in Croatia. During 2020 16 positions papers were published, including three sets of recommendations for helping the economy during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a series of positions papers on the necessary economic reforms, among which the following should be highlighted: recommendations for the reform of the tax system, improving the judicial system, Labor Act changes, improving the implementation of the Public Procurement Act, and strengthening the tourism sector in the Central and Eastern Europe.

AmCham has also strongly contributed to the initiative of signing the Double Taxation Treaty between Croatia and the US and continued to work on the introduction of card payments into public administration.

AmCham’s detailed positions on certain topics are published on the Chamber’s webpage.

By the end of the year, on December 7, AmCham will organize an event with the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, and the former Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Joe Crowley, which will feature a discussion about the US economic policy in the next four years and its impact on the global economy. AmCham members will have a chance to actively participate in the discussion.

AmCham has organized as many as 109 own events over the course of 2020. One of them is the regional conference “The Future of Investing” at which prominent investors discussed the implications of the global pandemic for investing. The event provided an insight into the thoughts and perspectives of the investors, their priorities and investment plans in the Covid and post-Covid times, and the ways in which the CEE region can strengthen its position on the global investment map.

In 2020 AmCham has continued with the eighth generation of the socially responsible program for young leaders, AmCham Talents, the third generation of the program “Boardroom Discussions: Digital Transformation from CEO Perspective” for CEOs, board members and managing directors of AmCham member companies who are interested to hear about the trends related to digital transformation, and it continues with the program in the year 2020/2021. Furthermore, in cooperation with AmCham Finland, in 2020 AmCham Croatia has continued with the program Launchpad USA which helps Croatian companies make their first steps on the US market.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, and with the goal of providing relevant expert content to its members, AmCham has organized a series of webinars through which it has enabled the communication among its members as well as with the representatives of institutions about current affairs related to the organization of work and business practices. AmCham intends to continue holding webinars due to a significant interest.