Power breakfast with Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Davor Božinović

American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia organized a power breakfast with a guest speaker Mr. Davor Božinović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior. 

Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović pointed out that the strengthening of relations with the United States of America through fulfilling the conditions for entry into the Visa Waiver Program for Croatian citizens is a very demanding process that is conducted in parallel with Croatia’s entry into the Schengen area. Speaking about the process itself, he emphasized: “We have achieved a level of cooperation, first of all between American and Croatian security institutions, which today is an example of the relationship in that area between the US and European countries, and EU member states.” He said that the Ministry of the Interior led the process, and not only have all the conditions for entry into the Visa Waiver Program been met, but Croatia has also become a member of the privileged club of only a few European countries that have entered the Global Entry program, which certainly helped in the completion of negotiations for entry into Schengen. “When we started working on that, everyone, including our partners from the US, told us that it was practically impossible to achieve it in a few years – but we managed to do it. Therefore, Croatia has positioned itself as a country that is on the USA’s radar as its most reliable partner in this part of Europe”, concluded Minister Božinović. 

Andrea Doko Jelušić, Executive Director of AmCham, pointed out that, along with the introduction of the euro, Croatia’s entry into the Schengen area is one of the most important national strategic goals that will contribute to Croatia’s stronger integration into the European Union. “The business community strongly supports the signing of the Double Taxation Treaty with the US, as well as the Visa Waiver and Global Entry programs. We can say that Croatia has achieved its strategic and political goals that will make doing business easier and positively affect the economy. For businesses, Croatia’s entry into the Schengen area means faster and cheaper movement of goods and services and greater competitiveness of the Croatian economy, and it will certainly have a significant impact on tourism revenues. We hope that all this will also be a reason for some new investments in the Croatian economy”, added Andrea Doko Jelušić.

Video from the event is available here.