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AUSTRIAN INVESTORS STAY DEVOTED TO CROATIA

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BRAZIL IS BACK ON TRACK

08 100 YEARS DEC

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OF FINLAND’S INDEPENDENCE

WE ARE CONTINUING WITH REFORMS MARTINA DALIĆ

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts

MICHEL TEMER

President of Federative Republic of Brazil

READY FOR NEW VICTORIES

IVICA TUCAK

Head coach of the Croatian national water polo team

YOUNG PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHAT EU OFFERS TO THEM AND TO CROATIA BRANKO BARIČEVIĆ

Head of the European Commission's Representation in Croatia

MUSEUM THAT ALWAYS TEACHES YOU SOMETHING NEW MARKITA FRANULIĆ

Director of Technical Museum Nikola Tesla in Zagreb

Austria

H.E. ANDREAS WIEDENHOFF

Austrian Ambassador to Croatia

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ED ITO RI AL

CO N T E N T S

Open to the Future Dear readers, The tempestuous year of 2017 is behind us, but it turned out to be not-so-turbulent in comparison with 2016 - no big shocks like Brexit and Trump, while the Islamic State has been (almost) territorially defeated. Of course, the world can never be entirely at peace; small „earthquakes“ did happen, like potential sanctions against Poland or Hungary, Qatar suddenly becoming a target of many neighbouring countries, Brexit proceeding with difficulties, while Trump, as expected, remains unpredictable. The economy is doing unusually well, with many surprises in the field of green technologies. Simultaneously with the USA's withdrawal from the Climate Accord, China became the champion of green development, spurred by unprecedented levels of pollution. In Croatia, we had a turbulent ending to the year, with the dramatic closure of the Hague Tribunal which left us with ambiguous conclusions about our history, reality or even sense of justice, but this story is too long to go into, and will be debated for decades. Too bad it did not resolve the old issues but it has somehow managed to deepen the existing ones, creating several narratives that every side perceives as their „reality“ and „truth“. But still, we have to look into the future, since the deliberations over the past are, sadly, endless, and hence, a bit futile. We hope that, after launching two issues in 2017, we will continue to bring you fresh news and quality analyses in 2018 too. And beyond! Diplomacy&Commerce team wishes Marry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our partners, collaborators and readers!

WE ARE CONTINUING WITH REFORMS MARTINA DALIĆ

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts

A NEW MIDDLE EAST Politics

BRAZIL IS BACK ON TRACK MICHEL TEMER

President of Federative Republic of Brazil

ROBERT ČOBAN

Director

YOUNG PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHAT EU OFFERS TO THEM AND TO CROATIA BRANKO BARIČEVIĆ www.diplomacyandcommerce.hr BOBAN SPASOJEVIĆ Executive editor

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A L L T H E CRO WN P RIN CE ’ S M E N

Saudi Arabia’s Unprecedented Shake-up Muhammad bin Salman has made himself the sole face of Saudi policy

EVEN by standards of recent palace intrigues, it was a dizzying Saturday in Saudi Arabia. On November 4th the kingdom announced that scores of people had been held in a massive anti-corruption sweep. The best-known figure was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire businessman and investor who owns big chunks of American firms such as Citigroup and News Corporation. But the detainees also include ten other princes; dozens of current and former ministers; the chairman of the Saudi Binladin Group, a construction conglomerate; and the owner of MBC, the largest satellite network in the Middle East. Some are reportedly being held in Riyadh’s opulent Ritz-Carlton, which told paying guests to leave and stopped accepting new bookings. Private jets were grounded in a bid to stop wealthy businessmen from leaving the kingdom. Even more significant is the separate move to sack several ministers, notably Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah, the commander of the National Guard, consolidating the power of the young crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman (often known as MBS), the hugely ambitious son of King Salman. To call all of this unprecedented would be an understatement. For decades, Saudi kings tried to forge consensus within the sprawling royal family. Change was incremental and power was divided, particularly among members of the

so-called Sudairi Seven branch—the sons of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the state, and his favourite wife, Hussa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi. Power among the brothers has long been balanced delicately. One Sudairi, Prince Sultan, served as defence minister for 48 years. Another, Prince Nayef, and later his son Muhammad, controlled the interior ministry for more than four decades. And since 1963 the National Guard was the preserve of Prince (later King) Abdullah and his clan.

IF HIS AMBITIOUS PLANS FALTER, SAUDIS WILL KNOW WHOM TO BLAME All three positions are now under the control of MBS. The crown prince became defence minister just hours after his father (also a Sudairi) ascended the throne in 2015. In June the ruling duo sacked the interior minister, Muhammad bin Nayef, the former crown prince, and placed him under house arrest. On Saturday they finished the job by sidelining Prince Mutaib, the second son of the late King Abdullah, who had once been mooted as a possible future king. The shake-up of the top economic and military posts officially bore the name of the fading monarch. But real power rests with his son. Just 32, he has gathered unprecedented power and is attempting to ram through an ambitious

social and economic agenda to modernise the country and wean it off oil. In September police rounded up dozens of critics, from Muslim clerics to human-rights activists. Then the king abruptly decreed that women would be allowed to drive next year, ending a decades-long ban. A few weeks later MBS wooed investors at a glitzy conference in Riyadh, where he spoke of the need for “moderate Islam” and announced plans for a $500bn economic zone, called Neom, which would be staffed largely by robots. He has a long list of other economic and cultural reforms, from opening cinemas to offering part of Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, in an IPO. The domestic turmoil comes at an already fraught moment for Saudi Arabia. A ruinous two-and-a-half-year war in Yemen, meant to crush Houthi rebels who ousted the government in 2015, has plunged that country into a humanitarian crisis. Though the Houthis have lost territory, they still control Sana’a, the capital, and most of northern Yemen. As the Saudi shake-up began on Saturday night, they fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh. (It was intercepted.) Just as unsuccessful is the five-month-old blockade of Qatar, which was meant to force the gas-rich emirate to drop its support for Islamist groups. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s arch-rival, Iran, is gaining influence across the region. Indeed, Saturday’s wild news started with the resignation of Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s pro-Saudi prime minister. Mr Hariri announced the move from Riyadh, blaming Iran’s malign influence on his country and saying he feared being assassinated, as his father, a previous prime minister, was in 2005. Many ask themselves whether the Saudi palace purges are a sign of strength, or reflect nervousness about internal resistance to MBS’s wrenching changes. Few believe the official talk of a clamp-down on corruption. In many ways, the latest arrests seem unnecessary. Aside from Prince Mutaib, the blacklisted officials are a weak lot. Though Prince Waleed is rich, brash and outspoken, he is also an outsider, a prince with little influence on Saudi policy. Still, the arrests send a message to other would-be critics. MBS, more than any other leader in decades, has fashioned himself the sole face of Saudi policy. If his ambitious plans falter, Saudis will know whom to blame. From The Economist, published under licence. The original article, in English, can be found on www.economist.com

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I NTERVIEW

We are Continuing With Reforms At a government level, we are implementing measures that facilitate permanent and stable growth. Probably the most important economic reform since Croatia's independence is implementation of the Law on the Extraordinary Administration in Systemically Important Companies MARTINA DALIÄ†

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts

Owing to a fast and determined action by the government, the crisis in Agrokor did not spill over into other companies that operate under that concern, and, as a result, Croatia got one of the most important laws that facilitates legislative and institutional framework for systemic risk management. Additionally, the government adopted a series of measures to alleviate the economy, and, in the next two years, will continue to systemically eliminate the obstacles to economic growth, entrepreneurship and innovation.

From your position of the Deputy Prime Minister and from the government's perspective, how would rate 2017? What would you single out as best developments, and what would you have done differently?

â€” In terms of economy, 2017 was a very challenging year, and also the year in which we built a

step out of the excessive deficit procedure, and have recorded a drop in the overall deficit and public debt, as a share of GDP. Furthermore, due to the economic recovery and the positive economic environment, unemployment has been declining. This year, the government gave a strong impetus to stable economic growth in the

WITH A COMPREHENSIVE TAX REFORM, WE HAVE CREATED A STABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND SIMPLE TAX SYSTEM firm foundation for permanent and stable growth. We also had favourable macroeconomic developments which resulted in the 3% growth of the Croatian economy in the first three quarters. By implementing a responsible fiscal policy, we have managed to

future. We have made a very first step towards introducing euro as the official currency in the Republic of Croatia, and, together with the Croatian National Bank, we have drafted a strategy for introduction of euro which, among other things, contains a detailed

cost and benefit analysis, which, in turn, has launched a public debate about this strategic goal of our government. All of this unfolded in a very challenging environment brought on by the crisis in Agrokor which has revealed substantial obstacles in functioning of market mechanisms, and which was a result of the way the company has been operating. There was a threat of the entire crisis spilling over into a substantial segment of the Croatian economy, but the government reacted swiftly and decisively by creating a legal framework which established an insolvency procedure format applicable to companies that are of systemic importance to the Republic of Croatia. The government has decided to increase minimum wage and plans to increase pensions,

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there are also measures that are supposed to alleviate a potential negative effect on the competitiveness of the Croatian industry. How are they going to be implemented in practice?

— This is a set of measures that will benefit both employees and employers. On one side, and with the aim of protecting the most vulnerable employee groups, we have decided to raise the minimum wage to 3,439 kunas, i.e. by 5%, for the second consecutive year, and clearly regulated that the minimum wage raise does not include compensation for overtime and for working nights, Sundays, holidays, or on any other day that the law stipulates as a non-working day, which did happen in the practice in the past. On the other hand, we exempted employers from paying some of the contributions on minimum wages, and thus cut back on labour cost by 103.85 kunas, which has directly contributed to a higher competitiveness of industry. Additionally, and in order to deal with the lack of workforce in Croatia, we raised employment quotas for foreigners for next year to 31,000 work permits. In the beginning of next year, we are going to start implementing a series of tax amendments in order to regulate the meal, accommodation and beverage allowances for permanent seasonal workers as untaxed expenses for employers. We are also going to raise the untaxed gift limit from 400 to 600 kunas. The government aims at improving the doing business climate with the newest economic policy measures, and primarily with the tax reform, the Law on Public Procurement and the Law on Public Investments. What are the most important novelties in tax reform, the Law on Public Procurement and Law on Public Investments?

tegic Investments that eliminates the flaws in the existing legislature, reduces the value of projects that are considered strategic, and expedites the process of obtaining general documentation for the project implementation. Amendments to the Law on Investment Promotion create more favourable conditions for realization of investment projects, especially for micro entrepreneurs, ICT projects, logistics and distribution centres, as well as for investments implemented through the activation of inactive state assets. Amendments to the Law on Improvement of Entrepreneurial Infrastructure will now incorporate free zones into the entrepreneurial infrastructure system.

NEXT YEAR WE WILL LAUNCH A PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM WITH A SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON THE REVISION OF THE PAYROLL SYSTEM — The government has put the improvement of the business and investment climate at the heart of its programme of activities, and approaches this issue in a wide range of areas. Thus, with a comprehensive tax reform, we have created a stable, sustainable and simple tax system which implies tax reliefs for both citizens and employers, and we have also contributed to boosting the economy's competitiveness. By reducing the corporate tax rate from 20% to 18%, and to 12% for entrepreneurs who generate annual revenue of up to HRK 3 million, we have freed up funds for entrepreneurs so they can further develop and invest in new projects and jobs. Additionally, by increasing the threshold for entry into the VAT system to 300,000 kunas,

we have made it easier for small businesses to do business with fewer administrative costs. The tax reform has also contributed to social justice through changes in the income tax system. Thus, the amount of personal allowance has been increased, with changes in tax rates and grades - the three rates of 12%, 25% and 40% are now replaced with two rates of 24% and 36%. In this way, we created a tax relief for workers, boosted the competitiveness and managed to keep highly qualified workers in the country. Thanks to the new Law on Public Procurement, we have improved the procurement process and increased its transparency. Owing to three new laws, we have further improved the investment climate. These are the Law on Stra-

Innovation and development of innovation-conducive environment are some of the most important issues for the future of the Croatian economy. What are you going to do regarding these areas?

— Promoting innovation and investments in research and technological development, and above all, the commercialization of innovative solutions, are the key factors in raising productivity and competitiveness of the Croatian economy. The public sector is supposed to play crucial role in this through acquisition of innovative products and solutions and by supporting the creation of an innovation-conducive environment. Which is why our new Law on Public Procurement stipulates a special public procurement procedure called 'Partnership for Innovation' as a strong tool for promoting innovation and development of innovative goods, services and works. The new Law on State Support for Research and Development Projects, that we have drafted, will facilitate bigger investments by private sector in research and development thanks to income and

I AM PROUD OF THE MINISTRY'S WORK Could you tell us what are you the most proud of personally and in the Ministry that you helm? — I would definitely like to single out the adoption of the Law on the Extraordinary Administration in Systemically Important Companies. I am glad that our efforts had been recognized and that this law was recently declared the economic event of the year due to the fact that we have just launched one of the largest and most important reforms in the Croatian economy, and demonstrated that this Government has a timely, determined and effective approach to any issue,

including the biggest ones. Likewise, I am proud of the fact that we have launched a series of measures for entrepreneurs and for creating a more favourable business environment. I am primarily referring to the regulatory reform that we are pursuing in order to alleviate the economy from many administrative obligations and unnecessary procedures, as well as to a set of investment and innovation laws that we have developed, which will contribute to the improvement of the investment and innovation environment in Croatia.

corporate tax reliefs. We are going to provide additional incentives for innovation projects through the EU funds where we have 500 million EUR at our disposal. The Action Plan for Administrative Alleviation of Economy is the first step in reforming the business environment. How much have you progressed with this, and what else needs to be done in that area?

— The Action Plan for Administrative Alleviation of Economy, which we adopted at the beginning of 2017, includes 104 measures, of which 74 are already being implemented or are in the final phase of implementation through the pending adoption of laws. The remaining measures will be implemented early next year. Our estimates show that the measures that have been implemented so far have created enough room for saving around 700 million kunas by eliminating some of the administrative obligations and, most importantly, by saving time through streamlining procedures. Given that the current Action Plan covers 8 areas, we are currently carrying out a comprehensive SCM measurement of the administrative burdens on the economy in more than 40 regulatory areas which have an impact on our economy. Based on the measurement results, we will create new action plans for 2018 and 2019 with the aim of reducing the excessive administrative costs for the business sector by at least 30% of the measured costs per area by the end of 2019. In 2017. we introduced SME Test, regulatory impact assesment tool for SMEs, preventing the imposition of new administrative burden that comes with adoption of new or by amending existing regulations, by-laws in particular. Thus, by initiating regulatory reform, on the one hand, we reduce the existing administrative burdens and, on the other, we are preventing the introduction of new ones, with the continuous training of civil servants and better regulation policies, all with the aim of building a positive approach and support to entrepreneurs. Many people say that implementing the Law on the Extraordinary Administration in Trade Companies is the economic event of the year. How important is this for future situations?

— I I think that it is the most important economic reform since Croatia's independence. The crisis

in Agrokor highlighted the vulnerability of the Croatian economy and the obstacles in functioning of the market mechanisms. By recognizing the inadequacies in the legal framework in cases where systemically important companies are facing pre-bankruptcy or bankruptcy issues, the Government has managed to act in a timely, decisive and effective manner in order to ensure and improve financial stability of the entire economy thus devising an insolvency procedure that ensures stabilization of company operations and financial, business and ownership restructuring of the systemically important companies. The activation of the extraordinary administration procedure by the then Agrokor's administration and the implementation of the extraordinary administration procedure have resulted in normalization of

these funds improve investment environment?

— We have 1.25 billion EUR at our disposal under the current financial budget for entrepreneurial development projects, improvement of entrepreneurial infrastructure and innovation, research and development projects. With this amount in mind, we have so far launched a total of 18 calls for submission of project proposals valued at 627 million EUR out of which 11 are directly intendend for entrepreneurs while other calls are aimed at enhancing entrepreneurial infrastructure and indirectly at entrepreneurs through creating a favourable entrepreneurial environment. By the end of 2018, we will have launched 12 new calls for submission of project proposals worth between 200 and 267 million EUR for development of new products and

THROUGH REGULATORY REFORM WE ARE REDUCING THE EXISTING ADMINISTRATIVE BURDENS AND PREVENTING THE APPEARANCE OF NEW ONES operations, regular payments and re-instigated trust in the company itself, thus preventing chaotic restructuring of the company and stopping the crisis from spilling over into a significant part of the Croatian economy which would have had unforeseeable consequences for jobs and the economy as a whole. How much money from the EU funds can Croatia count on in the next year and years after that, and what are the opportunties and limitations in funding the entrepreneurial sector? How can

services resulting from research and development activities, development of production capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises, standards and certificates, implementation of quality trademarks, implementation of ICT technology, and internationalization of business. During 2019 and 2020, we will launch calls worth about 100 million EUR. It is also important to point out that, by allocating grants, we are spending funds through financial instruments that provide entrepreneurs with more favourable funding conditions at lower interest

rates and a with fewer insurance instruments. We have 284 million EUR available for this purpose. I believe that the money from the EU funds contributes to improving the investment environment both in terms of bettering the entrepreneurial infrastructure and thus the overall business environment, as well as from the aspect of creating direct support to entrepreneurs which, in turn, encourages new investments and creates new jobs. How would you interpret the conclusions and recommendations from the FIC in Croatia contained in the White Book? What is your message to foreign and domicile investors?

— I welcome the initiative of the FIC and I am pleased to see that the areas that are highlighted in the White Book, coincide with the pri-

orities of this government. A more favourable business and investment environment is one of the main pillars of this government's policy that has already implemented a number of measures in this direction - from tax reforms to the initiated administrative alleviation of the economy, the reduction of non-tax duties, the establishment of a system for assessing the effects of laws and regulations on small and medium enterprises, a more vigorous use of the EU funds, the implementation of financial instruments, the development of the innovation-conducive environment, and the improvement of the legislative framework to stimulate investments in Croatia. Furthermore, we will work on strengthening our institutions to ensure greater efficiency and expeditiousness of the work done by the administration and the courts.

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PO LI TI C S

Text: NIKICA MILOŠ

A New Middle East

Rearranged, realigned

Nobody really knew what would happen when Vladimir Putin ordered Russian Airforce and Cosmic Force to intervene in the Middle East and crush the Islamic State. Now, the changes became tectonic, and after decades of lawlessness and terror and status quo, the Middle East might be calmer, or, even crazier than ever before. But, definitely different. TUKISH SHIFT

The first thing that set the wheels in motion happened in Turkey, in the summer of 2016. As we were sleeping through a summer night, an army group, allegedly inspired by Abdullah Gulen, decided to remove Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power and bring down his Islamophilia and neo-ottoman policies in a good-old tradition of Turkish military coup d'états. They failed, unlike their predecessors. After this, Erdogan again became good with Russia with which he had previously almost went into a war against because of Turkey's downing a Russian warplane, and the Russian intervention in Syria. Eventually, Erdogan and Putin started to collaborate on many levels – gas pipelines started popping everywhere, together they are forming de-escalation zones in Syria, and have both developed a softer stance toward Iran. Certain hickups, like banning ships that were previously stationed in Crimea from entering Turkish ports, or welcoming the illegally appointed Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to Turkey, did not

harm the relations that much. But the most crucial of all was an agreement, which stipulates Turkey buying S-400 anti-aircraft missiles from Russia. NATO, of course, reacted by sending a diplomatic message that such systems could not be integrated into NATO's joint defence system. Its future in NATO could be jeopardized? Although, this does sound like a pretty unimaginable scenario, the Turks did withdraw their soldiers recently from NATO military drills after someone 'accidentally' marked Erdogan as an enemy. When he found out, Erdogan became furious and warned that „such Alliance should not exist“. Also, at a press conference, he accused the US of funding the IS and protecting Gulen. The situation with Turkey, that is still finding its direction, was,

of until now. In a country where the Wahabi movement has been flourishing all these years, and were the holy Islamic places have been mercilessly destroyed because they were not „super pure“, Prince bin Salman 'dared' to announce that, the country was moving towards moderate Islam (probably like the one in Emirates, Oman, Kuwait or Qatar), the main economic branch-

ALTHOUGH THE KINGDOM'S BUDGET IS DEVASTATED BECAUSE OF THE WAR IN YEMEN AND LOW CRUDE OIL PRICES, IT IS RECOVERING, JUST LIKE TURKEY until recently, unthinkable. Turkey as a big non-bloc state, or Turkey as a major player in the Middle East? SAUDI SHIFT

Just as we thought that we had enough of strange news from the region, and after finding out that Trump might scrap the nuclear deal with Iran (which would also create a new arms race and more tension), the next shock came from Riyadh. Prince Mohammad bin Salman decided to carry out a reform, unheard

A STEP FURTHER — Things are becoming complicated in Central Asia too. The Uzbek President, Islam Karimov has died, and the country now fears Islamic extremists because of whom the government has upped its security measures. Considering that one of the people who attacked NYC was an Uzbek, and that Uzbekistan is allegedly the homeland of many people who were accused of conspiracy in Russia, this should not be treated lightly. If Imran Khan wins the election, Pakistan will turn more towards China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which is an incredibly important shift. Following the demise of the Islamic State, Afghanistan is yet again becoming the bedrock of extremism.

es would now be tourism and high technology, and most Saudi princes would have to stay in their luxury prisons until they are properly investigated for corruption. This U-turn came after the prince met with Putin following which there was more mention of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, the collaboration with Russia on fighting terrorism, and coordinating crude oil prices. Bearing in mind that we are talking about two strategic allies of the US, their inching towards

Russia would be unheard of decades ago. Allegedly, bin Salman said that he would release all those that he had arrested on corruption charges providing that they gave 70% of their wealth to the state as compensation. There have been also rumours about Saudis recognizing the state of Israel in exchange for the permanent solution of the Palestinian issue. Let's not even go into how unthinkable that would be. If the situation with Shiites in Saudi Arabia is also resolved, that could possiblly bring the ever so important peace to the region that would result in peace in Yemen, and warming up to archenemy Iran. IRAQ AND IRAN

When Russia intervened in Syria, Iraq, tired of dealing with the Western allies, immediately asked Russia do the same thing there too but Russia let the US to complete their job. The Western allies got involved in Syria and Iraq only when there was a danger of the Russians taking all the credit for destroying the Islamic State (IS). There was also Iran which relentlessly kept helping the governments in Damascus and Baghdad in their fight against the IS which absolutely despises Shiites. As a result of their unnecessary referendum, Kurds lost their territory and national self-confidence, while Iraq, for the umptieth time, now has to find a system that would not be abusive in peace situation while avoiding another war from erupting. Maybe the federation of the Iraqi Sunnistan, Shiastan, Kurdistan, Turkmenistan and Assyria (a Christian community living around Nineveh) is a solution that could give hope.

EXC LU SI VE

C O LUM N

Brazil is Back on Track The results are already visible

MICHEL TEMER President of Federative Republic of Brazil

Just over eighteen months ago, I took office as the President of Brazil with the task of facing up to the most severe economic crisis in the history of Brazil along with its deep social impacts on our people. Faced with this kind of challenge, I have put forward a transformation agenda without recourse to populist measures. The agenda comprises the broadest set of structuring reforms for the past thirty years based upon the pillars of fiscal balance, social responsibility and increase in productivity. The results are already visible. The economic recession in Brazil has been reversed and the Brazilian economy has grown for the last two consecutive quarters. Some analysts have forecast a 1% growth in GDP in 2017. Inflation, which was about 10% in May 2016, stands bellow the inflation target, recorded at 2.54% in September. Purchasing power got better with a real increase of more than 6% in wages. The basic interest rate for May was 14.25%, and has been dropping in a sustainable manner. The SELIC rate is currently 7.5%, the lowest in four years, and bank spread has dropped substantially. The responsible decrease in the interest rates alone has ensured an additional 80 billion Reais to the public coffers (current 18.5 billion pound sterling). Our trade balance has been breaking records: Brazil reached a trade surplus of US$ 58.477 billion between January and October 2017 (an increase of 51.8% in relation to the same period of 2016). Industrial output increased by 1.6% over the same period (in May 2016, it was in

free fall of 9.8%). Vehicle exports grew by 55.7% in relation to 2016 and have already reached the 560 thousand units produced in 2017 aggregate. Sales of new vehicles in the domestic market grew by 9.28% this year in comparison with 2016. Grains crops in Brazil should reach the historic record of 242 million tons in 2017, an increase of 30% in comparison to the last year. As a reflection of the acceleration of the Brazilian economy, port usage has grown by 5.7% in 2017 and the domestic aviation market also increased by 6.6% in comparison to September 2016. This virtuous cycle lies at the root of the recovery of trust in the Brazilian economy. The Business Confidence Index (GetĂşlio Vargas Foundation-FGV) peaked at 90.3 points in October, the highest level since July 2014. The Brazil Risk (Emerging Market Bond Index - EMBI) has dropped 544 basis points (Jan 2016) to 239 basis points (Oct 2017), a reduction of 56.1% in the sovereign spread. Also the five-year Credit Default Swap which was at 328 basis points has come down to 173.5 at the present

date. The IBOVESPA index has surpassed 76 thousand points in September 2017, recovering from 38 thousand points at which it stood in January 2016. The aggregate FDI data for the first semester of 2017 was US$ 40.3 billion (US$ 78.9 in 2016).The energy auctions, which were held under the new regulatory model, including those of presalt, raised 22 billion Reais (about 5.1 billion pounds sterling). Only in the energy sector, investments of 444 billion Reais (102.9 billion pounds sterling) are expected over the next few years, creating up to

THE ECONOMIC RECESSION IN BRAZIL HAS BEEN REVERSED AND THE BRAZILIAN ECONOMY HAS GROWN FOR THE LAST TWO CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS

500 thousand new jobs. Economic rationality and predictability measures have improved the business environment by means of initiatives such as de-bureaucratization in the agricultural, services, retail and foreign trade sectors. The State Enterprise Responsibility Law has enabled a professionalization of state enterprises. Discredited in the past, the state enterprises have now been regaining value. With losses of 32 billion Reais in 2015 (7.4 billion pounds sterling), they generated profits of 4.6 billion Reais in 2016 (0.2 billion pounds sterling) and 17.3 billion Reais (4 billion pounds sterling) in the first half of 2017. Aiming at raising productivity, an employment reform has been passed. Without removing rights, the law was modernized and brought workers from the shadow economy into formal employment. The success of this agenda has already been reflected in employment recovery, with an increase in the employment rate indexes. The accumulated surplus for 2017, measured by the General Register of Employed and Unemployed Persons of the Ministry of Employment (CAGED-MTE), is of 163 thousand jobs created, in comparison to the loss of 448 thousand jobs between January and May 2016. According to measurements of the Brazilian Institute of Ge-

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ography and Statistics (IBGE), in the third quarter of 2017 alone more than 1,061 million jobs were created in Brazil and from those more than 524 thousand people have left the unemployed ranks. Employee real aggregate income rose 3.9% in the third quarter of 2017 in comparison to the same period of 2016. The reinstatement of fiscal responsibility along with the economic growth has enabled an increase in the resources allocated to social welfare. Social welfare programs, which had been previously put at risk on account of fiscal collapse, have been recovered in tandem with the ceilings established under the Constitution and thanks to efficiency in public spending. The ‘Bolsa Família’ benefit has been increased by 12.5% (after more than two years without any adjustment) and waiting lists have been extinguished. The Government has gone further and launched the ‘Progredir’ (Getting ahead) programme, which helps families on benefit to obtain employment and credit, and as such, to achieve autonomy. Boldly, I have released the dormant FGTS accounts and advanced the PIS-PASEP

withdrawals, which has benefited millions of Brazilians and injected R$ 60 billion into the economy. The health and education budgets have increased. The rationalization of health care management has brought more resources to essential services: R$ 4 billion have been redirected for equipment purchase, opening of new

health care units and hiring new staff. The ‘Farmácia Popular’ (low cost Pharmacy) programme had been spending 80% of its budget on administrative costs. A new allocation system has increased the resources for the purchase of essential medicines by R$ 100 million/year. In the field of education, the high-school/secondary reform

THE NEXT STEP WILL BE THE CONTINUITY OF REFORMS, WHICH WILL ENSURE SOLVENCY AND SURVIVAL OF THE SYSTEM, IN ADDITION TO REMOVING PRIVILEGES

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has updated the curriculum for the students taking into account individual skills and the realities of the employment market. The Student Financing Fund (FIES) has been reassessed offering 75 thousand new study places, and has now become sustainable. Over R$ 700 million were allocated to this fund, for the same reason, avoiding delays in resource transfers. With the launch of the Geostationary Satellite, a decisive step has been taken towards the universalization of access to broadband Internet in Brazil. The results show that the strategy put forward and implemented by the Government is the right one. We have left the economic crisis behind and are back on the development track. Persuaded that there is no time to waste, I will advance the approval of the reform agenda. The next step will be the continuity of reforms, which will ensure solvency and survival of the system, in addition to removing privileges. Simplifying tax law, another priority, will increase the competitiveness of our domestic production. With the indispensable support of the National Congress, of workers and the business community, we are putting Brazil back on track.

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NATIONAL DAYS

in December & January

ARRI VALS & D EPAR T UR E S

DECEMBER

SANJA STOJIĆ AND IVANA KRAJINOVIČ

New Executive Directors of EY Croatia

The Croatian office of Ernst&Young Advisory (EY) has appointed two new Executive Directors, Ivana Krajinović in the Audit Department and Sanju Stojić in the Tax and Accounting Department, who were appointed to their respective positions after their long career in EY. Ivana Krajinović has extensive knowledge and experience in the field of auditing and other advisory services with clients from various industries, especially telecommunications, retail and wholesale, real estate, consumer and industrial products. Sanja Stojić has been working with many tax consultancy and related services projects including counseling on tax impacts of internationally structured investments, business models and international transactions, tax optimization of the financing models, transfer prices, tax due diligence services and other similar services.

JAPAN

ational Day N (Emperor's Birthday)

LIBYA

National Day

JANUARY

CUBA

National Day

MYANMAR National Day

OLIVER KUMRIĆ New IGH Chairman

AUSTRALIA National Day

IGH's Supervisory Board has appointed Oliver Kumrić as the new Managing Board Chairman. Kumrić has been with IGH for nearly three years as a member of the Board. Immediately prior to his arrival to the IGH Institute, he worked as an advisor to the International Finance Corporation for business development and infrastructure investment in Croatia. Before that, he worked as the Assistant Minister of Transport and Infrastructure in charge of investment projects for a year and half. In that position, and on behalf of the Government, he conducted negotiations on the concession for Zagreb Airport.

INDIA

Republic Day

TATJANA SKOKO New Country Manager for Croatia

GORAN GRANIĆ HEP has a new Supervisory Board

The General Assembly of HEP, under the chairmanship of Zdravko Marić, was convened by the old Supervisory Board, comprising of Nikola Bruketa, Juraj Bukša, Igor Džajić, Žarko Primorac, Ivo Uglešić and Mirko Žužić, at the Government's insistence, to appoint members of the new Supervisory Board. The members of HEP's new Supervisory Board are Goran Granić, Marko Primorac and Jelena Zrinski Berger. At its constituent meeting, the Supervisory Board appointed Granić as its Chairman and Primorac as the Deputy Chairman.

FAREWELL VISIT Croatian President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović met with H.E. Ms Julieta Valls Noyes, the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Croatia prior to Ms. Valls Noyes' departure from the ambassador position. Croatian President, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović received H.E. Ms Julia Valls Noyes, the Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Croatia

Microsoft has appointed the acting Country Manager of Microsoft Croatia, Tatjana Skoko as the Country Manager for Croatia. In September 2017, Tatjana Skoko was appointed acting Country Manager at Microsoft Croatia, replacing Lejla Zukić – Krivdić who was appointed Channel Development Manager for Central and Eastern Europe in Microsoft where she covers the company's operations in 33 countries. The decision to appoint Tatjana Skoko as the new country manager will be effective as of 1st January, 2018. In her position, Skoko will continue implementing Microsoft's existing strategy while focusing on expediting digital transformation of the Croatian economy, public sector and the overall society.

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C O RPO RATE

Optical Express

Solution for Poor Vision in Line With Leading Global Standards

Optical Express is one of the leading laser eye surgery groups in Europe with over 200 refractive surgery clincs in Great Britain, Germany and Croatia If you have a bad vision, wear glasses or contact lenses, you must have considered laser eye surgery at certain point. So far, over 60 million people across the world have corrected their vision through laser surgery. This is a short and painless procedure after which you can contiue doing most of your everyday activities even a day after the surgery. What sets Optical Express apart from other similar clinics? • Experience with over 3 million laser eye surgeries at the Group's level • State-of –art technology – Optical Express is the only such facility in the region that uses the iDesign iLASIK platform for vision correction • The International Medical Advisory Board (IMAB), a organization comprising of the world's top surgeons, regularly evaluates the work of our surgeons. There is no question about the quality and expertise of the Optical Express clinic in Zagreb, which opened in 2005 and has been at the very top of refractive surgery for 12 years now. Owing to its quality, Optical Express Zagreb is the favourite pick of many profes-

sional athletes such as the tennis player Goran Ivanišević, numerous national water polo teams including the world champions, hockey players, basketball players etc. Apart from top athletes, there are many public figures who trusted us with correcting their vision too. The demonstrated professionalism and friendly team of experts at Optical Express guarantee top quality services, and will give you

advice and answer any questions you might have regarding laser eye surgery. Optical Express uses only top-of-the-line technology including the technologically advanced lasers, the only lasers of such type in Croatia. Every single ophtamologist in Optical Express is an expert in refractive surgery, and together they have performed over 3 million procedures. The Optical Express clinic in Zagreb corroborates with

IN THIS REGION, ONLY OPTICAL EXPRESS USES THE LASER EYE SURGERY PLATFORM (INTRALASE + CUSTOMVUE TECHNOLOGY) THAT NASA APPROVES FOR CORRECTING THE EYESIGHT OF ITS ASTRONAUTS

the leading Croatian ophtamologists – Dr Dean Šarić, Professor Zdravko Mandić, PhD, Dr Zdeslav Vukas and Dr Dražen Grgić. By introducing the IntraLase and Advanced Custom Vue technologies to Croatia in 2009, Optical Express has set high standards in laser eye surgery. Now, we have gone a step further. We can correct your vision to an even higher precision thanks to the iDesign technology. Just like finger prints, eyes are also completely unique, and every eye has its own special features. The LASIK and PRK procedures can be additionally perfected through the use of iDesign, a revolutionary wavefront diagnostic device that can detect even the smallest irregularities in the eye which helps the surgeon to additionally adjust the procedure to the uniqueness of every individual eye. iDesign captures more than 1,200 micro readings of the eye, five times more than previous wavefront technology. The iDesign technology helps the surgeon to correct vision better than any glasses, contact lenses or the standard laser eye surgery could. Also, the technology can correct more complex and higher eye prescriptions than ever before.

I NTERVIEW

Young People Understand What EU Offers to Them and to Croatia A segment of the Croatian public still hasn't completely managed to adapt to the new European dimension. Our Representation Office has been investing a lot of effort into brining the European project closer to the citizens of Croatia. Personally, I care deeply about our pupils and students being well-informed on this matter

BRANKO BARIČEVIĆ

Head of the European Commission's Representation in Croatia

„Personally, I care deeply about our pupils and students being well-informed about the benefits of EU membership, and I spend a good portion of my time in schools and at faculties all over Croatia talking to young people about the future of Europe because that's what will affect them the most“, says Branko Baričević, Head of the European Commission's Representation in Croatia, in an interview for Diplomacy&Commerce magazine. He adds that most young people that he has talked to see the EU as a good opportunity for Croatia as a whole, but also for personal growth of Croatian citizens. What could contribute greatly to this is re-focusing on raising the social standards in the EU to the benefit of its citizens. Still, the EU should be viewed, first and foremost, as an aggregate of basic values that the EU citizens and countries share. In that context, there is no alternative to the EU – says the Head of the European Commission's Representation in Croatia. Following the speech about the state of affairs in the Union that the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker gave in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, do you

think that the future of the EU and Croatia in the Union is now more certain? What are the most important points from Juncker's speec, and what situation is the Union in at the moment? Could you compare the EU today to the EU five years ago when Croatia became its member, and the EU in five years' time?

— In mid-September, president of the European Commission, JeanClaude Juncker gave its third state of the union speech in the European Parliament which many said was his best to date because it was positive and relfected the trend of exiting the financial and economic crisis while underlining the three basic European principles – freedom, equality and the rule of law. Mr. Juncker stressed that Europe has to be a union of equal countries, whether big or small, northern or southern, and how Europe has to breathe with both of

nancial and economic crisis, the European Union and all its member states, have started to record economic growth, as well as the highest employment ever in the history of the EU – 235 million EU's citizens are employed. This is unprecedented! In the last three years alone, around 8 million new jobs were

WE DO HOPE THAT CROATIA WILL MEET THE SET CRITERIA NEXT YEAR, BUT JOINING THE SCHENGEN ZONE IS A POLITICAL DECISION THAT THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL HAS TO MAKE its lungs (eastern and western) otherwise our continent would lose its breath. There are no second class citizens, workers or consumers. You are asking me if, following this speech, the EU's future is going to be more secure? There is no speech that can guarantee that. The future of the European Union is our hands; in the hands of its citizens and its leaders. After a prolonged period of fi-

created partly due to and owing to the Investment Plan for Europe which is starting to yield its first results in Croatia too. These trends also demonstrate that the European Union is strong and has mechanisms to manage crises, in addition to having political will which gives us every right to be positive about the EU's future, including the future of Croatia, as its younger member.

What do yout think of the progress that the official Zagreb made towards the Schengen Zone? How much can the border conflict between Slovenia and Croatia, and official Ljubljana's possible conditioning and stalling affect that? How much has Croatia progressed internally in terms of joining the Schengen Zone?

— Today, Croatia is a step closer to joining the Schengen Zone. I would like to remind you that, on 27th June, Croatia was granted a full access to the Schengen Information System (SIS), which is a joint database used by member states that contains information about personae non gratae in the EU, persons who are wanted by the authorities, stolen vehicles and similar. The evaluation of the implementation of the Schengen Acquis is carried out in several areas, in line with the set plan, and according to the agreement between Croatia and the EC. The next evaluation is scheduled for this month. We do hope that Croatia will meet the set criteria

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next year, but joining the Schengen Zone is a political decision that the European Council has to make. In his speech, president Juncker appealed to member states to have a positive stance regarding this matter, and invited them to support Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia joining the Schengen Zone ASAP, i.e. as soon as they meet all of the set criteria. How much did Croatia manage to find its place in the EU, both in terms of its influence in EU bodies, especially the EC, and internally, i.e. in utilizing EU development funds?

— Following its accession to the EU, Croatia immediately joined the EU institutions, and has been actively participating in their work. At the European Parliament election, Croatian citizens chose their representatives who are now members of various parliamentary committees. Croatia also has a commissioner in the European Commision who is in charge of international cooperation and development and who, in accordance with the authority that commissioners have, participates in making of all of the Commission's decisions, as well as has influence on creation of new European policies despite the fact that he, actually, does not represent Croatia per se, bur rather implements European policies. Of course, our prime minister actively participates in the European Council's sessions, while certain line ministers also participate in ministerial meetings where key decisions for certain areas are made. Representatives of the Croatian civil society, social partners and regions are also integrated in the EU bodies. Maybe Croatian citizens are not that acquainted with the role they play, but we can definitely say that Croatia is well-integrated in all EU institutions, and that it influences all of the processes in the EU via its representatives. I am sure that, in the future, the Republic of Croatia is going to utilize its EU membership even better. The commencement of preparations and all the required activities for Croatia joining the eurozone have been announced. What is the most appealing to Croatia regarding joining the eurozone, and what could obstacles could the country encounter on that path?

— To start off with, I have to say that joining the eurozone is an

JOINING THE EUROZONE IS A HUGE INCENTIVE FOR ECONOMY, AND A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR A COUNTRY LIKE OURS. REMOVING THE EXCHANGE RATE RISK, AS THE MOST IMPORTANT OBSTACLES FOR EXPORTERS AND IMPORTERS, IS A VERY SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGE ESPECIALLY FOR CROATIA AS A HIGHLY EUROIZED COUNTRY obligation that Croatia, just like any other member state apart from Denmark and the United Kingdom, took upon itself when it signed the accession agreement. Joining the eurozone is a huge incentive for economy, and a great opportunity for a country like ours. Removing the exchange rate risk, as the most important obstacles for exporters and importers, is a very significant advantage especially for Croatia as a highly euroized country. I would like to remind you that euro enabled reduction in transaction costs in product and service exchange in Europe thus allowing free flow of goods, capital and labour. Also, as a result of introduction of euro, regulatory expenses, like higher interest rates to be paid by borrowers, would be abolished. In other words, loans would be more favourable to lenders (banking sector) and borrowers. Deepening of the economic integration, higher level of specialization, and bigger trade volume make euro-

zone one of the biggest economic areas in the world. The latest data collated by Eurostat shows that, in all likelihood, 2017 is going to be the best year for eurozone in terms of economic growth, with the rates higher than those in the US, and the best recorded results since the onset of the economic and financial crisis ten years ago. The goal is for euro to become a uniform currency in the EU, which is why president Juncker suggested, in his speech, that an accession instrument for euroarea should be devised that would provide not only technical, but also financial assistance to member states, i.e. an opportunity that Croatia should seize. How much do Croats believe in Europe, and how much do you personally belileve in the European project as something that doesn't have an alternative?

— The latest data from Eurobarometer show that 57% of Croatian citizens think of EU membership as

WISDOM IN SOLVING CRISIS In which way can this new problem with Catalonia and Spain negatively affect the EU's perspective? — This is an internal issue for Spain to resolve, and we believe that there will be enough wisdom to successfully overcome this crisis.

a positive thing, and 64% of those surveyed also thing that EU membership was beneficial for Croatia. However, there is still a segment of our population that has not completely adapted to the new European dimension, and still see the whole situation as „us vs Europe“. This is where our Representation Office has a great task to do, and we have been investing a lot of effort into bringing closer the European project to people all over Croatia. We are doing this in collaboration with the Croatian governmetn and its institutions, social partners, civil society and academia. Personally, I care deeply about our pupils and students being well-informed about the benefits of EU membership, and I spend a good portion of my time in schools and at faculties all over Croatia talking to young people about the future of Europe because that's what will affect them the most. Most young people that I have talked to see the EU as a good opportunity for Croatia as a whole, but also for personal growth which they are already utilizing through the Erasmus+ programme which celebrates its 30th year of implementation in Europe, and 10th in Croatia this year. I would also like to mention the recent meeting of the top European officials in Gothenburg at which they agreed to focus more on raising social standards in the EU in the following period. They also undertook to improve the social dimension of the European Union to the benefit of all of its citizens. But, I would like to reiterate that the EU should be viewed, first and foremost, as an aggregate of basic values that the EU citizens and countries share. In that context, there is no alternative to the EU.

LOYA L T Y O N T H E CH E A P

Proposed Changes to FrequentFlyer Programmes May be Bad News for Budget Travellers British Airways and Air France-KLM are hacking back their loyalty schemes to help them compete against low-cost rivals

ALONGSIDE Eurocrats, straight bananas and anyone who opposes Brexit, Britain’s tabloid press has found something new to hate this year: British Airways (BA). Britain’s flag carrier has been criticised for cutting legroom in economy, axeing free food and drink on short-haul flights and—horror of horror—the amuse bouche that used to be served before dinner in first class. To save face, this week BA’s chief executive, Alex Cruz, who has come under sustained criticism for the cuts to service quality, announced that the carrier would be tarting up its offer. This would include more free meals, better Wi-Fi and 72 new planes. “We’re bringing back the glory days,” Mr Cruz proudly crowed. But not all of the improvements may be as good for frequent flyers as he advertised. Among the changes planned for 2018, BA is moving to so-called “dynamic award pricing” in Executive Club, its loyalty programme. This means that tickets paid for with points from the programme will be no longer calculated in distance, but the cost BA is selling the ticket at. Air France-KLM, a rival legacy carrier, also an-

nounced similar changes as part of an overhaul of its Flying Blue loyalty programme. Starting in April, in addition to dynamic award pricing, members of the scheme will also earn points based on how much they spend on a ticket rather than how far they fly. This shift will fundamentally change the relationship between loyalty-programme members and airlines. Instead of earning miles

INSTEAD OF EARNING MILES AS A FUNCTION OF DISTANCE TRAVELLED, PASSENGERS WILL SOON BE REWARDED FOR SPENDING THE MOST MONEY as a function of distance travelled, passengers will soon be rewarded for spending the most money. And instead of published tiers dictating the price of an award ticket, the way loyalty programmes traditionally managed the fares, dynamic pricing will allow the required points needed for a free flight to fluctuate dramati-

cally as the retail price of the ticket changes. There is no doubt that the changes will shrink the loyalty programmes to focus on those that tend to be high spenders on tickets. But from the airlines’ perspective, a smaller scheme with fewer potential liabilities is what is necessary to compete with the likes of Norwegian, a lowcost carrier with much lower overheads. The impact of these changes will gradually be felt by BA and Air France’s frequent flyers, as the incoming stream of miles slows to a trickle and as it becomes more expensive to swap points for free flights. Such schemes used to be a key part of their strategy to keep passengers coming back to them, rather than change to budget airlines that offer lower fares but leaner offerings for frequent flyers. The question that remains is whether BA and other legacy carriers are sacrificing the very thing that keeps their passengers away from the clutches of Norwegian and the like. From The Economist, published under licence. The original article, in English, can be found on www.economist.com

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C O RPO RATE WFDSA

Direct Selling - More Relevant than Ever

Its future is very bright as it offers a personalized approach like no other industry combined with the ease of doing business online

TAMUNA GABILAIA

Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations

Direct selling offers important benefits to people who want to have an opportunity to earn income and build a business of their own, to consumers as an alternative to retail stores, and a cost effective way for business to bring products to market, says Tamuna Gabilaia, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of WFDSA, for Diplomacy&Commerce magazine.

Can you explain to our readers what exactly is direct selling?

— Direct selling is the person-to-person sale of a product or service by independent sales representatives who are sometimes also referred to as direct sellers, consultants, distributors or by other titles. Direct sales often occur in a one-to-one or small group or party plan environment, quite frequently in the consumer’s home. Direct sales can also take place in a branded shop or retail location, and online, via e-commerce or social media. Independent sellers earn income from direct selling companies based on the sale of their products. Mobile technology and social media are driving our industry forward in unprecedented ways.

What are the benefits of direct selling?

— Consumers benefit from direct selling because of the convenience and service it provides, including personal demonstration and explanation of products, home delivery, and generous satis-

faction guarantees. Direct selling offers an alternative to traditional employment for those wanting a flexible opportunity to supplement household income, or whose circumstances don’t allow regular employment. Direct selling opportunities can develop into a fulfilling career for those who achieve success and choose to pursue their independent direct selling business on a full-time basis. Start-up costs in direct selling are typically low. Usually, a modestly priced sales kit is all that’s needed to get started, and there is little or no inventory or other cash commitment to begin.

What are the key issues in your line of business in terms of Consumer Protection? Do you have a Direct Selling Code of Ethics?

law and thus, provides even better protection to consumers. Companies that are members of the Direct Selling Association pledge to adopt, enforce and publicize the DSA Code of Ethics. Code complaints are handled by an indpendent Code Administrator. The Code of Ethics offers protection to both consumers and direct sellers. Some of the key provisions of the code include a cooling-off period when a consumer has the right to return goods within a specified period of time. Buy-back provision is another key element of the code when an indpendent distributor can return any unsold inventory at 90% of the cost if purchased within the past 12-months. Another key provisions include exaggerated earnings claims, respect of privacy, and low entry fees.

SOME PEOPLE JOIN DIRECT SELLING COMPANIES JUST TO BUY EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AT DISCOUNTED PRICES — The WFDSA World Code of Ethics is the cornstone of the global direct selling industry's commitment to consumer protection and ethical business practices. The Code is a living document and we review it periodically to ensure that it addresses the issues of the ever changing marketplace. The Code is not optional; every Direct Selling Selling Association (DSA), that wants to join WFDSA, has to adopt and localize the code as a minimum requirement. Many DSA Codes goes above and beyond the requirements offered by the local

What are some of the problems you have encountered in this region - Croatia and Slovenia?

— One of the key issues these markets are facing is the lack of legal framework for operation of the direct selling industry and high taxes. Additionally, more robust educational efforts are needed to help consumers distinguish between those illegitimate “fly by night” operators where remunerations is mostly offered not on the sale of the product or service to an ultimate consumer, but is mostly based on the recruitment.

INDEPENDENT SALES FORCE Worldwide, there are more than 107 million people involved in direct selling and the number is growing every year. They sell some of the world’s most sought-after brands in nutrition, beauty, home care, jewelry, clothing, home decor and other products; in addition to energy, telecommunications, legal, financial planning, insurance and other services. These people join a direct selling business opportunity to earn extra money, or even build a business with very low entry cost, low risk and company-provided training and support.

You cooperate with chambers of commerce, goverments, etc. What are your recommendations for overcoming the problems you have just mentioned?

— Our member, Croatian DSA, has already launched an initiative for the amendment of legal regulations and establishment of a more favourable tax regime. We also believe that women entrepreneurs should receive a better treatment when establishing their businesses. As to Slovenia, it would be beneficial to partner with relevant external bodies on the educational efforts which will help to spread the knowledge about the direct selling industry and the great opportunities it offers to people compared to other industries. Entrepreneurship is one of the best ways to achieve economic, financial and social independence, and is a step towards gender equality. In close cooperation with the industry, government has to ensure more favourable legislation and business environment to support growth of the direct selling industry and attract new multinational direct selling companies.

How can we establish a strong and more effective framework for cooperation?

— The WFDSA, along with its member associations and their member companies, is heavily invested in improving the quality of the relationships between key external stakehlders such as regulators, consumer leaders, academia, etc. The Federation, in cooperation with local DSAs, has worked with numerous governments around the world to develop and strengthen laws and regulations. WFDSA was instrumental in promoting the aforementioned policies in Singapore, China, Japan, and in most US states, including many other countries. Effective self-regulation combined with government regulation and educational initiatives are key to addressing the issues, as I have already mentioned.

C O RPO RATE iAudit

Continuous Client Support

Auditing and business advisory adapted to the needs of company managers or proprietors are the main goals of the iAudit company which was founded by three partners with a wealth of auditing experience

The Croatian company iAudit equally focuses both on auditing financial statements and on continuous client support in order to resolve any dilemmas before clients make decisions that could have an impact on their financial statements. After gaining valuable experience from working for one of the auditing companies that make the Big Four, Nenad MutiÄ‡, Boris Vidas and Filip Zekan also worked in management positions (in financial and accounting departments) in some of the most important Croatian companies. Their desire to advance and acquire more knowledge and skills resulted in the trio launching their own business in 2011. Auditing and business advisory adapted to the needs of company managers or proprietors are the main goals of the iAudit company which was founded by three partners with a wealth of

auditing experience. Today, the 12 people who work in iAudit share the same goal, and the company provides auditing, business and tax advisory services to a wide variety of clients, both in profit or non-profit sector. Following the company's endeavour to meet the specific needs of each client while making sure that the work is done efficient-

Croatia and abroad as an indispensable tool in their business. The new functionalities of this software have been designed with the help from the European Regional Development Fund grants. The enthusiasm, creativity and commitment of the three iAudit partners were also recognized by one of the ten largest international associations of independent audit-

IAUDIT HAS DEVELOPED THE TICKMARK AUDIT SOFTWARE WHICH HAS BEEN COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SINCE LAST YEAR ly and is easily accessible to all team members who are working on individual tasks, iAudit has developed the Tickmark audit software which has been commercially available since last year. It is a cloud-based software which has already been recognized by a number of other audit companies in

ing and financial consulting firms - DFK International. Namely, iAudit became DFK's Croatian partner in 2014. In addition to getting a valuable support through partnering with DFK, the company was also given an opportunity to access the international market. Furthermore, membership in DFK International

facilitates international cooperation between the members with the view of providing adequate services to clients in all countries in which DFK is present. â€žOur idea is to continue providing auditing and advisory services adapted to our clients' special needs in the future too. We want to progress through further training our staff so that they are able to develop and provide innovative services in the areas of auditing, financial advisory, accounting and reporting. Our focus will continue to be on hiring highly educated, young and ambitious people looking to work in a dynamic and challenging environment that offers lifelong education and acquisition of consulting skills. In this way, we want to develop a team of experts who is ready to support clients from different industries at all times in order to further boost our market presence, "said Boris Vidas.

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C O LU MN DANIJEL KOLETIĆ

„SWEDEN PICTURES 2.0“

STORY ABOUT SWEDISH NATIONAL BRAND

When we say Swedish branding, we mean a vision of creating a presentation of national identity where everything is transparent and visible on the sweden.se digital platform In this issue of the magazine, I have decided to write something about Swedish branding. When you say Sweden, I am sure that Volvo is the first brand that you think of, but there are other globally renowned brands like H&M which sells clothes, footwear and fashion accessories. Or maybe IKEA, the company that has changed homes of many families around the world, was the first brand that you thought of. Technologically speaking, Sweden's most renowned brand is Ericsson which develops some of its solutions to technological challenges here, in Zagreb, in company Ericcson Nikola Tesla which had the honour of welcoming the Swedish royal family. On the global stage, there are home appliances produced by Electrolux, and buses, trucks and machine and ship diesel engines manufactured by Scania. The Nobel Prize is one of the biggest Swedish global brandswhich is awarded for exceptional research, new technologies, or extraordinary contribution to society in economics, physics, physiology / medicine, chemistry, literature and peace. The Swedish state itself has created a perception of a good brand, but the seriousness of approach to this term demonstrates how this country works, and its strategic decision to establish the Swedish Global Promotion Board (NSU - Nämnden för Sverigefrämjande i Utlandet) under the auspices of the Swedish Foreign Ministry. Let's go back to the key to brand strategy, which is NSU which supervises four crucial institutions that are in charge of various brand stories that are constantly upgraded. These are

– the official tourist information website, 'Visit Sweden' which is run by the Swedish Tourist Board; 'Invest Sweden' which is a government agency that promotes business and investment opportunities in the country; the Swedish Institute and the Swedish Trade Council. It is important to mention that these organizations are not politically controlled, but are run by experts, and are independent and responsible for their operations. This sends an important message to the countries that don't have such an organizational

produced. Tetra Pak was considered the most important Swedish innovation because, globally, it revolutionized the way milk was packaged which, before the invention, was stored in glass bottles. Also, the first transplatation of a pacemaker in 1958 is a Swedish innovation. This happened at the University Hospital at the Karolinska Institute. The device was invented by Rune Elmquist, and Ake Seninng was the surgeon who first implanted it. Subsequently, the patient Arne Larsson went through 26 different pacemakers during his

SWEDEN HAS MORE THAN 90,000 LAKES AND 86% OF THE SWEDISH POPULATION LIVES IN CITIES. THE TEMPERATURES CAN PLUMMET TO -50OC I AND GO UP TO + 38O structure, or have not positioned their own brand strategy. They can simply copy this national branding business model which we, in Croatia, and other regional countries, definitely need. A brand is created through innovation too. In 1994, Erik Wallenberg invented Tetra Pak tetahedron packaging which Ruben Rausing subsequently

lifetime, and he died in 2001 at the age of 86, outliving both the pacemaker's inventor and the surgeon. The Swedish vehicle manufacturer Saab was the first carmaker to install seat belts in cars back in 1958 after which seat belts became a global standard in the industry. Another Swedish company, Volvo perfected this technology.

In terms of the country's opennes and freedom, the fact remains that Sweden is one of the most tolerant countries in the world when it comes to LGBT rights. Sweden legalized same sex partnerships back in 1995, and same sex marriages in 2009. Another good example of this tolerance and freedom is the fact that Sweden banned corporal punishment of children in schools in 1958 following a public debate launched by a pediatrician and a public health professor from Karlstadt, Staffan Janson. In 1979, the Swedish Parliament banned violence against children in domestic environment too. Croatia passed this law only in 1999, and Macedonia in 2013. We should also mention that these are the only two countries in the region that have such regulation. These acts have created a perception of Sweden, i.e. they have created the country's brand. Its forward thinking and openness reflected in the motivation, energy, modern views, sincerity and a careful approach to communication processes, as well as in inner freedom and calmness. It is these principles that the platform and the basic values of the Swedish national brand are based on, and these are the principles that the country implements daily in any two-way communication in the country and abroad. Furthermore, this is the strategic foundation of the activities implemented by the NSU, and a guideline for development of new outlines and programmes for upgrading Swedish brands and Sweden as a brand. I would like this article to be an inspiration to our country too, so that we can create our own brand story just like Sweden.

C O RPO RATE

Photo: Boris KaÄ?an, Source HTZ

Croatian National Tourist Board

25th Anniversary in Spirit of Record-breaking 2017

With over 100 million tourist overnight stays and 25 years of operations, the Croatian National Tourist Board is the epitome of what marked this very successful tourist year According to the data collated by the eVisitor information system which records tourist stays in commercial and non-commercial facilities, and in nautical charters, in the period from January to November 2017, Croatia recorded 18.2 million visits (a 13% hike) and 101.2 million overnight stays (a 12% hike). This year, Istria recorded the highest number of overnight stays (27.4 million), followed by Split-Dalmatia county (19 million) and Kvarner (18.5 million). In terms of countries, tourists from Germany had the highest number of overnight stays (20.7 million), followed by the Slovenians (10.1 million), Austrians (7.6 million), Polish (6.3 million), and Czechs (5.4 million).

THE CROATIAN TOURIST BOARD â€“ PAST AND PRESENT

The founding session of the Croatian National Tourist Board Assembly took place on 30th June, 1992. Today, in the 25 years since

developed into one of the most desirable global tourist destinations, while tourism has developed into one of the most important sectors in the country with a very high and significant share in the national

THE CROATIA 365 PROJECT IS THE FIRST SYSTEMIC CONCEPT OF EXTENDING THE TOURIST SEASON THROUGH COLLABORATING WITH OTHER TOURIST DESTINATIONS, REGARDLESS OF THE COUNTRIES THEY ARE IN its establishment, the Tourist Board has recorded many successes and implemented many projects which are an important part of the modern-day Croatia, as one of the most appealing tourist destinations. In these 25 years, Croatia has

GDP of 20%. In the last few years, the number of tourists has been constantly growing, more than the European average, while this growth trend is also recorded in the segment of tourist revenue and investments in tourism. The Croa-

tian national strategies, especially the Strategy for Development of Croatian Tourism and the Strategic Marketing Plan for Croatian Tourism, are being consistently implemented, with the set goals getting slowly but surely accomplished. In accordance with the existing analyses of the number of tourists and the tourist market, Croatia is increasingly perceived as a country with a very diverse tourist offer which transcends the previous perception of Croatia being mostly a summer holiday destination. In line with the aformentioned, we can conclude that, in the last few years, Croatian tourism has undergone signficant changes in the structure and the quality of tourist offer, in addition to the changes in the diversity and originality of

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Photo: Ivo Pervan, Source HTZ

ACCORDING TO THE PRELIMINARY INDICATORS, IN 2018, WE EXPECT AROUND A 5% GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS, AS WELL AS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 940-MILLION-EUR-WORTH OF INVESTMENTS IN THE CROATIAN TOURISM resulted in certain changes in the past period, including the changes in the structure of the Top 10 markets. The relevant overview of the leading markets shows that certain markets have lost their share in the total turnover, while some markets have grown significantly, i.e. more than average. Also, it should be underlined that the TOP 10 markets' share is declining in the overall tourist results of the country, which points to the fact that our market portfolio has been successfully diversified.

NEW PROJECTS FOR NEW AGE

Apart from regular activities like participating in trade fairs, holding presentations and workshops, organizing study trips, PR and marketing campaigns, which we have been successfully implementing, in the past several years, the Croatian National Tourist Board has realized a few very important projects. On 1st January, 2016, we started to utilize eVisitor, a unique, centralized system that registers tourist arrivals and departures.

This system is exceptionally important for caculating and billing control of sojourn tax. The eVisitor system also gives a real time insight into the relevant data about the number of tourists in Croatia, as well as into financial information about the collected sojourn tax. Then we have the project called Croatia 365 which is the first systemic concept of extending tourist season that entails tourist destinations working together, regardless of the countries they are located in. This has proven to be a really good concept which can been seen from the results it has generated so far which show that we are close to implementing one of the project's main goals – a million new arrivals in the pre- and post-season period by the year 2020. We are also focusing on new metrics and analytics in light of the current tourist trends which dictate tourism developments, and the activities implemented by the Croatian National Tourist Board toward having a better evaluation of the achived results. We are doing this in response to the requirements of the modern environment which has substantially changed the habits, needs and travelling dynamic of today's tourists. On the back of that, we carried out a detailed analysis of the strength of the national tourist brand which showed that implemented activities were yielding results. The

Photo: Ivo Biocina, Source HTZ

Photo: Boris Kačan, Source HTZ

available activities and marketing presentation. Consistent investments in development projects have resulted in the higher quality of tourist offer which definitely increases the average tourist spending and facilitates higher sale prices that, in turn, lead to gradual changes in the structure of guests in terms of their willingness to spend. There have also been changes in the demand segment with tourists now having completely different reasons to travel, unheard of before. The Croatian National Tourist Board is one of the most important stakeholders in creating these positive changes, with the Board directing its marketing efforts, in the last few years, towards highlighting the unique sales proposals, values and offers that positively differentiate us from our competitors. The awareness about the diversity of our tourist offer has resulted in an increased interest for Croatia in those tourists who have a very unqiue motivation, and have not been that interested in visiting Croatia before. We have developed offers that are appealing to a younger tourist population like festivals, parties, and various other programmes that involve unconvetional destination activities which have been growing in number in the last few years. These activities have deifnitely

Photo: Ivo Biocina, Source HTZ

Photo: Boris Kačan, Source HTZ

Photo: Ivo Biocina, Source HTZ

Photo: Aleksandar Gospić, Source HTZ

analysis from 2016 showed that, relative to 2013, the awareness about the Croatian tourist brand grew by 23% while the understanding of the brand went up by 16%. The new umbrella communication concept, which slogan is "Croatia, Full of Life" and which was officially presented in London on 1st October, 2015, has definitely contributed to the recognizability of the Croatian tourism. This communication concept was certainly a turning point in the communication and promotional activities of Croatian tourism in foreign markets since it had replaced the long-standing slogan "The Mediterranean, as it once was", which had been previously used for 15 years. Croatian tourism needed a refreshing, new approach in its promotional activities.

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Along with the increase in the number of tourists and other indicators, we are very pleased to see that the number of our followers on social media has also been growing since social media are one of the most important promotion channels today. The Croatian National Tourist Board is active on social networks and media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+ and Pinterest, and we have nearly two million follow-

ers. The importance of our social media presence and the quality of our campaigns are also corroborated by many awards that the Croatian National Tourist Board has won. For instance, our campaign #SuperBowlCroatia, designed to mark the finals the American National Football League (NFL), won the City Nation Place Award in the Best Use of Social Media category in 2015. There is also the Out Of Office campaign, which won two awards - the prestigious SABRE Award in the Pan-European Programme

INTRODUCING 2018 – CONTINUATION OF GROWTH TRENDS

As a result of the continous investments made every year, the Croatian tourist offer has become increasingly competitive yearon-year which is reflected in new, well-organized accommodation, organization of various events, development of selective forms of tourism like health, nautical, cultural, MICE and active tourism, and in the increasingly better availability of Croatian destinations, thanks to many new flights.

CROATIAN TOURIST BOARD HAS MADE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE OVERALL POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN GENERAL TOURISM RESULTS, AS WELL AS TO A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN TOURISM REVENUE category, and the MIXX Award at the Communication Days event, in the Brand Awareness Campaign category, on top of the IdejaX Silver Award in the Tourism, Culture and Free Time category. We should also mention the prestigious German award - the PR Report Award - which the Croatian National Tourist Board won in the Consumer Marketing category, in a very tough competition which included the biggest global companies like Microsoft and Colgate-Palmolive.

Considering previous announcements and early bookings for the next year, in 2018, we expect the number of tourists and tourism revenue to grow. According to the preliminary indicators, in 2018, we expect around a 5% growth in the number of tourists, while in the segment of investments in Croatian tourism, we expect 940-million-EUR-worth of investments to be implemented, of which 628 million EUR in private and 311 million EUR in the public

sector. The investments in Croatia next year will definitely result in new innovative facilities, attractions and experiences that appeal to tourists.

THE CROATIAN NATIONAL BOARD - 25 YEARS BRIMMING WITH MEMORIES

It is an indisputable fact that the Croatian National Tourist Board has been actively and dynamically engaged in marketing and other key activities that have contributed to boosting of the brand's strength, better positioning of Croatian tourism in the international tourist market, and improving the image of Croatia as an attractive tourist destination. Also, without a doubt, the Croatian Tourist Board has made a significant contribution to the overall positive developments in general tourism results, as well as to a significant increase in tourism revenue. Today, tourism is Croatia's trademark, and Croatia is a must-see Mediterranean destination where everyone can find something for to their liking. Croatia is one of the very few tourist destinations that offer a lot of diversity in a relatively small area. All of us have a task of continuing to talk to the world about this beautiful country that, although being geographically small, is a tourism giant.

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PO LI TI C S

The Toxic Weapon Or why sanctions don't work

people, the ordinary people, will suffer enormously. STRENGTHENING THE ENEMY

After the latest set of sanctions was imposed against Russia by the U.S., many in the EU, and not only businesspeople, became allergic and itchy. Sometimes too much is just too much, and after this unprecedented move was called “a stampede” – by no less than The Washington Post... Oh yes! Let me quote it: “The House passed the legislation 419 to 3; the Senate voted 98 to 2. That’s the congressional version of a stampede.” Not only is this going to harm the European economy, but it also damages America’s authority and raises questions over the sanity of its policy. Former secretary of the treasury Jacob Lew noted the U.S.’s growing tendency to use sanctions as a cureall in foreign policy. By limiting access to U.S. financial markets in order to punish countries for behaviour that the U.S. doesn’t like, the sanctions tool ultimately risks undermining the primacy of the dollar and U.S. financial institutions. It all backfires in the end. AGAINST THE PEOPLE, NOT THE LEADERS

Of course, being from Serbia, all the people here reacted in disgust.

We were the first to feel the impact of such sanctions, and let me tell you that those sanctions only made us angrier, less prone to dialogue, creating several generations of young people born in the ‘90s who are isolationists and fierce nationalists; it damaged our ability to become an EU member with our full economic capacity, rendering us permanently unstable. And the government that the sanctions

The Cuban government would have long since collapsed if there were no sanctions against Cuba. Milošević would have been ousted long before 2000 if sanctions hadn’t been imposed. Sanctions always strengthen the enemy, as the people tend to gather around the leader and blame foreigners and their sanctions for their bad life, and not the leader himself. You may call it an example of the Stockholm syndrome, but it is so. Moreover, as the Russian example

SANCTIONS USUALLY DON'T WORK IN THE WAY YOU THINK THEY WILL. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY, IT’S ABOUT THE SPITE, AND SPITE IS A POWERFUL FEELING were intended to hurt? It didn’t feel them. If there aren’t enough resources, the government’s members will be fed first. Also, if in the ‘90s they wanted sanctions to stop Serbia from waging wars, well, I’ll have to disappoint you by informing you that the Army was a priority, just as it is today in North Korea. You think you will hurt Kim's army or Kim's party? Nope! They will be fine – just like Saddam in Iraq. The army and politicians will remain intact, but the children and the

shows, it also wakes people up. Russia effectively destroyed its agriculture in the ‘90s, becoming heavily dependent on food imports from the Baltic States and Poland, but now Russians are increasingly reviving their own agriculture, with investments that surpass even those of Soviet reconstruction times. New brands of cheese and dairy have been developed. And when one day sanctions are lifted, Polish and Baltic manufacturers will return to a market with a

depleted share available to them. This is quite similar to the situation after the October Revolution, when the West imposed sanctions against the new USSR. Stalin responded with rapid industrialisation, cities gained their own metro transport systems, many suffered but the aim was achieved. Franco's sanctions, which cut off Gibraltar between 1950 and 1984, only served to strengthen the will of Gibraltarians not to be part of Spain. The sanctions imposed by the League of Nations against Italy in 1935 and ’36 for the annexation of Ethiopia only compelled Italians to stand by Mussolini and served to increase their production and consumption. The sanctions imposed by the USSR and Comecon against Yugoslavia in the 1948-1955 period were yet another example – with the resolution of Informbiro, when the country mobilised with Tito and additionally turned Westerds, triggering great GDP growth in Yugoslavia and representing an additional counter-turning point for the country's Western orientation. A country that was only moderately “Western” turned more squarely towards capitalist countries. After the sanctions, although it had applied Soviet reactionism until 1948, the country began to introduce market relations, a consumer society and market, liberal socialism, including the emergence of Western music, films, goods and the like. The sanctions proved a complete failure.

THE DAMAGE IS EVERYWHERE The current regime of sanctions against Russia has cost the EU 100 billion euros, and damaged Russia by as much as €50 billion. Some 200,000 jobs have been lost in Italy alone, which is itself severely hit by crisis anyway. And you think Putin will change anything? No! Sanctions are like state-sponsored terrorism. And when terror strikes, everyone spitefully opposes it. The Continental Block imposed against the UK by Napoleon only turned people against his rule, even though they’d initially felt liberated by him. It turned Russia against France, leading to the Russian Campaign and the eventual abdication and disaster of the Grande Armée. After the recent blocking of Visa and MasterCard in Russia,

on 1st April 2015, Russia launched its own national transaction system for card payments, i.e., for conducting transactions within the territory of the Russian Federation. Sberbank, Russia's leading bank, started issuing the cards in October 2016 and by year’s end some 1.76 million Mir cards had been issued by 64 banks, rising to over five million by April 2017 and 10 million by July 2017. JCB, American Express and MasterCard immediately started cobranding. Russia introduced the Chinese UnionPay card. The conclusion? Sanctions usually don't work in the way you think they will. It’s not about the money, it’s about the spite, and spite is a powerful feeling.

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C O LU MN JAGODA POROPAT DARRER

Business Communications Professional

REPUTATION IN A CLOUD:

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE CRISIS COMMUNICATION

The strategy of managing a crisis communication should take in consideration the new communication habits of our audiences, whether they are consumers, voters or employees, and adapt to it - protecting that way the reputation, because sometimes it could be matter of surviving or perishing “Panta rei – everything is changing. Only change itself is real, constant and eternal flux, like the continuous flow of the river which always renews itself, remaining per se permanent”. From Heraclitus and Plato, through Latin proverbs Omnia mutantur and Tempora mutantur to Japanese tale Hojoki and Buddist doctrine of impermanence, perhaps nowhere the change is better visible then in communication. The constant, and moreover, every day change of the new technology put large demands on us as communicators. It requires readiness to adapt promptly, prepare and react in a real time, the same one the information is conveyed. Thus, crisis communication has become even more crucial.

tion X (1965-1980) it is a PC and communicating via emails and SMS, most frequently using the social network - LinkedIn, and for Millennials (1981-1997), Digital Natives, it is a smartphone, instant messaging, and hanging on Tinder. Digital immigrants as we call the Boomers differently handled the information flow and trusted TV the most. The early digital adopters - Gen X, are using social media in a high range. And what would it

cases of videos causing crisis. The first one of United Airlines showing a passenger being dragged off an airplane, after he paid for his ticket but the airline overbooked the flight and the second one, the video of University of Applied Science VERN’, imaging a student abusing drugs in class. United Airlines Video from April this year hit the nerve highlighting the greed of the airline as well as the poor

THE POWER OF THE CLICK

As we know information flow today it is certainly not like it used to be just 10 years ago. What took us few hours to do several years ago, now we share in less than a second. According to newstatesmen.com, Facebook has 2 billion users; it is approximately 28.5 % of the whole world population. 90% of them access the FB account through their Smartphones Apps. It has never been so easy to spread the news, just one tiny move with your thumb, just one click and you reach the World. Reportedly, around 350 000 tweets are shared per minute on Twitter. Facebook, YouTube and Instagram for example have officially become the legitimate PR tools. Key technology for the Boomers generation (19461964) was TV and the main communication channel is still a phone, for the genera-

REPORTEDLY, AROUND 350 000 TWEETS ARE SHARED PER MINUTE ON TWITTER; FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE AND INSTAGRAM HAVE OFFICIALLY BECOME THE LEGITIMATE PR TOOLS be like to communicate for Gen Z (1998-2017) the so called Digital Innates, on Snapchat with a rise of Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Realty/Virtual Realty; it is yet to be seen. CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS’ CASE STUDIES INSIGHTS

The power of the click on social media has shown its real impact in the two following

reaction on the obvious crisis. On social media the firestorm swept around the world. It took 36 hours for its CEO to react properly; from using the euphemism of “re-accommodate” the customer for obviously dragging him against his will outside the aircraft, through denying the fault by accusing the customer of defying the officers, to the proper reaction of taking the

full responsibility. The result of such acting and poor crisis communication cases United stocks go down 1, 13%. On the other hand, and on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, there is a positive example of how to monitor social media for brand mention and how to respond promptly and professionally to a potential crisis. In November this year, anonymously was released online a 10 seconds video of a female student looking like abusing drugs right in front of other students in the class. The place was recognized as a Croatian University of Applied Science VERN’. Not only has the management reacted instantly with an official release on their web site stating that the University condemns all kind of drug abuse but also conducted legal steps to expel the student from the University. The video was on every significant Croatian news portal, but at the same time, it was the University press release too. The professionalism reflected in undertaking all the steps of crisis communication plan using the right channel. Failure to monitor social media for brand mention and have a plan in place to customer feedback could mean a full scale crisis. But also, when crisis arise, it is an opportunity to reinforce the company values and make the best out of the potential crisis situation. The right question to ask ourselves, as Chuck Norman, CEO at SA Communications stated is “What would reasonable people appropriately expect a responsible organization to do in crisis situation?” Whatever you do, do it quickly and smart because the future is in the cloud.

EVENT

Diplomacy&Commerce Successfully Launched in Croatia! Diplomacy&Commerce Croatia magazine was launched on November 6th 2017 at the residence of UK Ambassador in Zagreb

Andrew Dalgleish British Ambassador to Croatia, H.E. Thomas E. Schultze German Ambassador to Croatia, Mrs Ruža Ristanović Magazin director, Mr Boban Spasojević Executive Editor, Mrs Sandra Ćoban, Mr Robert Čoban president of Color Media Communications

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Mr Dejan Ljuština PWC, Mr Robert Čoban president of Color Media Communications, Mrs Ruža Ristanović Magazin director, Mr Boban Spasojević Executive Editor

Mrs Dubravka Vrgoč director of the Croatian National Theater, Mrs Aida Salamanka Country Director British Council Croatia and Slovenia

Mr. Gordan Markotic adviser in the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affears with wife, Mr Robert Čoban president of Color Media Communications

Mr Sven and Mrs Jagoda Darrer

Mr Boban Spasojević Executive Editor, Mrs Ruža Ristanović Magazin director, H.E. Andrew Dalgleish British Ambassador to Croatia

Mr Marko Bašić German-Croatian Industrial and Chamber of Commerce

H.E. Andrew Dalgleish British Ambassador to Croatia, H.E. Thomas E. Schultze German Ambassador to Croatia

The launch party was attended by many illustrious guests from the cultural, political, business and diplomatic community of Croatia. The welcome of all the guests was hosted by the host H.E. British ambassador Andrew Dalgleish, H. E. Thomas E. Schultze, Ambassador of Germany, Mr Robert Čoban president of Color Media Communica-

tions-publisher of Diplomacy and Commerce magazine and Boban Spasojevic executive editor of D&C Croatia addressed the guests and shared their impressions about the magazine. Ambassadors of UK and Germany expressed their gratification and pleasure because the first issue of DC Croatia included special publications dedicated to UK and Germany and their bilateral

relationships with Croatia. This eminent event hosted many other state and diplomatic officials such as Mustafa Babur Hizlah, Ambassador of Turkey, H. E. Jurij Priputen, Ambassador of Slovakia, H. E. Mohammad Reza Sadegh, Ambassador of Iran, Adrianao Chiodi Cianfaram, Ambassador of Italy, H. E. Mihail Gregorie, Ambassador of Romania, H. E. Miroslav Kolatko, Ambassador of the Czech Republic,

H. E. Neil Benevides, Ambassador of Brazil, H. E. Won-Sup Park Ambassador of the Republic of Korea and Mr. Gordan Markotic adviser in the Croatian Ministry of Economy, previous ambassador of Croatia to Serbia. Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia and former Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to Serbia. The team of DC of Croatia also

hosted the representatives of the British, Turkish, German and Austrian chambers of commerce, the director of the Foreign Investors Council Mladen Fogec, the HGK Vice President Želimir Kramarić, the Croatian National Theater contingent Dubravka Vrgoč, the Executive Director of the Croatian National Bank Alemka Lisinki and many other prominent guests from the fields of economy, culture,

sports, media and art from Croatia and the region like Rene Bakalović, Toma Ric, Dejan Ljuština, Damjan Ljuština, Marina Krleža, Danijela Koletić and others. In his speech at the launch event Mr. Robert Čoban said: “Since The Economist with whom we are publishing Diplomacy&Commerce is a British brand – I often like to quote one of the greatest statesmen of the United

Mrs Srebrenka Saks DHL with collages

H. E. Mohammad Reza Sadegh, Ambassador of Iran with wife and wife of the British ambassador

Kingdom – Winston Churchill. „Business as usual” that is something we have been implementing during the past 25 years in our publishing house since it was established. Most of you remember what we’ve been through in the region for the past 25 years and only with the “business as usual” sentence it is possible to work and develop a publishing business. The second sentence from Churchill’s

May 1940 speech “We shall fight on the beaches” also reflects our desire to fight for our readers on all fronts – “on the sea, in the air, on the beaches … ” as it was said by Churchill. We believe that such development is possible only if we all in the region cooperate- of course with the support of countries such as Germany and Great Britain whose ambassadors are with us tonight!”

Mr Dejan Ljuština pwc and Mr Mladen Fogec FIC

H. E. Mohammad Reza Sadegh, Ambassador of Iran with wife and wife of the British ambassador

Mr Domagoj Globović, Mr Siniša Žugić, Mr Bruno Boban

Mrs Ebru Arisoy, Mr Danijel Koletić, Mr Robert Čoban

Mr Dan Vidošević, Mr Želimir Kramarić, , Mr Davor Tekulja, Mr Tomo Ricov

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PEO PLE & EVENT S

20 THE FIFTH EDITION NOV

OF THE FIC`S WHITE BOOK

FIC in Croatia presented the fifth edition of the White Book – a publication dedicated to the business and investment climate and investment barriers in Croatia- at the Mimara Museum in Zagreb. In the White Book, the FIC identifies the following areas that have to be improved in order for the country to boost its competitiveness - legal uncertainty, tax obligations, parafiscal charges, public administration and judiciary, labour issues and access to funding.

Governor of the Croatian National Bank, Prof. Boris Vujčić

The Envoy of the President of the Republic of Croatia and her advisor on economic affairs Marko Jurčić, Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, Mladen Fogec, President of the Foreign Investors Council in Croatia, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Martina Dalić, DSc, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction and Physical Planning Predrag Štromar, Minister of Labour and Pension System Marko Pavić, MSc, and the Governor of the Croatian National Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Bank, Prof. Boris Vujčić, Dsc, Igor Zgrabljić FIC Entrepreneurship and Crafts Martina Dalić

22 TIKA LAUNCHES NOV

LIBRARY AND NURSERY PROJECTS IN SISAK

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) has added several new projects to the portfolio of projects it implements worldwide in celebration of its 25th anniversary. TIKA officially marked the end of the project of reconstruction of the Vlado Gotovac Library's facade (Caprag branch) in Sisak, and the work on the Sisak Novi Nursery where the Agency built a new playground, donated toys, and equipped teacher rooms.

Coordinator of Zagreb Program Coordination Office TİKA, Haşim Koç, HE Mr. M. Babür Hızlan, Ambassador of Republic of Turkey in Croatia

HE Mr. M. Babür Hızlan, Ambassador of Republic of Turkey in Croatia, the Mayor of City Sisak, HE Kristina Ikić-Baniček

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PEO PLE & EVENT S

22 FAREWELL NOV

PARTY FOR US AMBASSADOR

The Indian Ambassador to Croatia, H.E. Mr. Sandeep Kumar hosted a ladies only farwell party for the US Ambassador H.E. Ms Juliet Valls Noyes, following her departure from the ambassador post. The ladies (and one gentleman as the host) in attendance hold prominent

positions in government, diplomacy, business, media, culture, and NGO sector. On the occasion, Ambassador Kumar announced the upcoming Indian American Global Entrepreneurship Summit, held in Hyderabad, from 28th to 30th November 2017 with women as the main topic of the Summit.

Ambassador of India to Croatia H.E. Sandeep Kumar,ex US Ambassador H.E. Juliet Valls Noyes and and guests

28 POTICA AND NOV

WINE TASTING

The Slovenian Embassy held a presentation of the traditional Slovenian dishes and wines at the spectacular terrace at Zagreb 360Â°. Potica is a traditional Slovenian cake that is baked all over the country and has many varieties. Today, there are about 120 different ways of preparing this delicious cake.

H.E. Mr. Constantin - Mihail Grigorie, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the Republic of Croatia

Professor Damir Boras, Rector of Zagreb University, Mr. Furio Radin, Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Mr. Constantin â€“ Mihail Grigorie, Ambassador of Romania, Mr. Milan Bandic, Mayor of Zagreb, Mr. Goran Maric, Minister of State Property

29 ROMANIAN NOV

NATIONAL DAY

The Embassy of Romania in Zagreb hosted a reception in celebration of the National Day of Romania. The ceremony was attended by the representatives of the political, parliamentary, diplomatic, economic, cultural and academic communities, and the media, as well as the members of the Romanian community and Romanian-speaking communities in Croatia.

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01 KOREA-CROATIA DEC

BUSINESS FORUM

The Korea-Croatia Business Forum was successfully organized in Zagreb by the Croatian-Korean Business Club, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Croatia, KOTRA and the Korean Tourist Board. On the occasion, the Korean Tourist Board presented the Winter Olympics which will be held in Pyeongchang, Korea, in 2018.

Igor Zgrabljić, Secretary-General of the Croatian-Korean Business Club, Prof. Damir Boras, Rector of the University of Zagreb, Luka Đurić, Advisor to the President of the Republic of Croatia, Academician Željko Reiner, Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Robert Pende, Assistant Minister of Tourism, H.E. Park Won-Sup, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Zoran Horvat, President of the Croatian-Korean Business Club, Donghee Lee, Consul of the Republic of Korea

05 ANNUAL DEC

H.E. Thomas E. Schultze German Ambassador to Croatia, Mr ANDREAS OLIVER KRAUß, Deputy Head of the Embassy of Germany, Nicolas Baron Adamovich , President of the German -Croatian Chember of Commerce, Sonja Holocher-Ertl, Austrian Foreign Trade Bureau. Director

RECEPTION

One of the main events this season was the annual reception of the Austrian and German Business Communities in Croatia. Jointly organized by ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA, the Austrian Trade Commission and AHK (the German-Croatian Chamber of Commerce), together with the Economic Department of the German Embassy, the event was attended by more than 400 guests from economy, business, politics and diplomacy who enjoyed a great night of networking and partying at Zagreb’s top location - Lauba. Carol singers and a Wheel of Fortune kept guests entertained after the official party closing time of 9pm. The guests included Luka Burilovic (President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce), Zelimir Kramaric & Tomislav Rados (Vice Presidents of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce), Olivera Majic (Deputy Mayor of Zagreb), and Ambassadors Wiedenhoff (Austria) and Schultze (Germany).

Mr ANDREAS OLIVER KRAUß, Deputy Head of the Embassy of Germany, Nicolas Baron Adamovich , President of the German -Croatian Chember of Commerce, Sonja Holocher-Ertl, Austrian Foreign Trade Bureau. Director

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PEO PLE & EVENT S

07 "COLLABORATION OF DEC

LEARNING PLACES"

As part of the project to promote and encourage the introduction of a dual model in vocational education in Croatia, the German-Croatian Chamber of Commerce organized a professional conference "Collaboration of learning places - the key to success in dual vocational education", where the heads of vocational schools , representatives of companies, the Ministry of Science and Education, the Croatian Chamber of Economy and the Ministry of Labor and Pension System.

Michael Müller, Board member of the German-Croatian Chamber

Vlado Prskalo, Assistant Minister of Science and Education

Jan In, Project Manager of the Dual Education (AHK)

Frank-Martin Clauß, IHK Mönchengladbach

08 100 YEARS OF FINLAND’S DEC

Finnish-American photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Mrs. VIRTUES JOHANNA TURUNEN, First Secretary and Deputy Head of Mission, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, mr. Snježana Pintarić

INDEPENDENCE

In celebration of 100 years of Finland’s independence, distinguished guests had an opportunity to see the impressive photographs of the world renowned Finnish-American photographer, Arno Rafael Minkkinen at the opening of his exhibition 'Taivaanranta / Obala neba / Firmament', on display for the first time in Croatia, at the Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb. In the year when Finland celebrates 100 years of independence and 25 years of diplomatic relations between Finland and Croatia, the Finnish Embassy is especially proud to showcase Minkkinen's series of photographs from Croatia, which will be exhibited across the world, and which will also promote Croatia’s cultural and natural identity to the global culture and photography scene.

Finnish-American photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen

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B USINESS NEWS Croatian National Bank

Croatian Chamber of Economy

STRATEGY FOR INTRODUCING THE EURO

CROATIAN CHAMBER OF ECONOMY The Golden kuna was awarded by the large Maistra commercial company, Rovinj’s leading tourist company, which makes 6% of the overnight stays in Croatia with the invested 3 billion kuna investment. In the category for the medium company, the statue was taken by the company for 5 minutes (Zagreb) and for the small Bruketa and Žinić and Gray from Zagreb. Particularly prestigious recognition for the promotion of a business venture that has helped entrepreneurship popularization went to the hands of Mate Rimac (Rimac Automobili iz Sveti Nedjelje). The winners are: in the category of innovation company Altpro (Zagreb); Wiener Insurance Com-

pany Vienna Insurance Group from Zagreb; for life’s work, a respected entrepreneur Stjepan Saffron, among banks Privredna banka Zagreb.In the new category Post startup The Golden Kuna was awarded to Axilis from Zagreb.

Valamar Riviera

THE VALAMAR GROUP WILL INVEST A TOTAL OF HRK 705 MILLION IN 2018

Valamar Riviere Supervisory Board d.d. approved the investments in the amount of HRK 633 million, while the Supervisory Board of Imperial d.d. approved investments amounting to HRK 72 million, totaling HRK 705 million. After more than 4 billion kuna of realized investments over the past period, Valamar Rivera, as the leading investor in Croatian tourism, continues to invest heavily in the investment

cycle worth 2 billion kunas to 2020. In 2017, Valamar invested HRK 906 million in its largest annual investment cycle in Croatian tourism and opened up to 1,000 new jobs. In 2018, Valamar Girandella Resorta is completed, which will open the first Kinderhotel of 5 * in Croatia, to re-position Rapca as the leading holiday destination on the Adriatic. Investments in camps in Istria and on the island of Krk will continue the strategy of intensive investment in the premium camping segment. In Dubrovnik, the repositioning of the hotel Valamar Argosy is focused on paying more salaried power while on the island of Rab, investments totaling HRK 72 million and the renovation of the Imperial hotel launch a new development cycle.

The Croatian National Bank has prepared a Croatian strategy for the introduction of the euro, which includes calculations of the benefits and possible risks of entering the eurozone. The decision to enter a country in the ERM II mechanism, namely Slovakia, was adopted last year in 2005, and ERM II is a lobby room in which a candidate runs through the site and the grid before gaining a green light for the euro. After Slovakia, which has a euro since 2009, only Bulgaria officially applied for ERM II but was rejected. Any country that joins the European Union is legally obliged to introduce the euro, but there is no deadline for it to do so or take over a single currency single-sided decision. If the Croatian Government asks for entry into the ERM II mechanism, or whether the European Commission and the other European countries are persuaded to control public debt and bring it down to a 60% limit within a reasonable time, it is estimated that the euro could become the Croatian currency at the earliest 2022 or 2023 . years.

Supernova

UNIQUE OFFER OF THE LARGEST CROATIAN CHAIN

Croatian Tourism Association

CROATIA – THE BEST DESTINATION FOR FAMILY VACATION FOR RUSSIAN TOURISTS

This is the traditional annual award ceremony organized by National Geographic Russia, and the prize is awarded for the best destinations for Russian vacationers, based on readers’ voices, which were more than 270,000 this year. Croatia has once again proven that it is a recognizable destination for family vacation on the Russian market, a destination that Russian tourists rank among the top of the desirable tourist destinations. According to the eVisitor system data, in the

current part of the tourist year, more than 132,000 arrivals and 950,000 overnight stays came from Russia, representing a 12 percent increase in arrivals and 10 percent reductions. Looking at destinations, Russian tourists realized most of the overnight stays in Poreč, Umag and Dubrovnik.

The largest chain of shopping centers in Croatia, Supernova, offers a fantastic opportunity to buy special gift certificates. These are unique gift vouchers on the market as they provide unforgettable shopping experience in all 10 Supernova Supermarkets throughout Croatia with more than 500 stores. Supermarkets Supernova Buzin, Supernova Garden Mall, Supernova Karlovac, Supernova Zadar, Supernova Sisak East, Supernova Sisak West, Supernova Slavonski Brod, Supernova Šibenik, Supernova Varaždin and Supernova Koprivnica can be purchased at all centers. It will be sold on weekends at the appropriate desks during the working hours of the appropriate center.

B USINESS NEWS The Croatian Chamber of Commerce

Facebook

REPRESENTATION IN CHINA

TESTING A NEW ADVERTISING OPTION

After less than half a year, the story with Facebook's videos is changing. Advertisers are not quite as pleased to see their video ads somewhere in the middle of the video on the world's most popular social network.They want a guarantee that their ads will be seen safely. One, perhaps the only such guarantee is just displaying a video ad before starting the video that users want to see. Just as it's on the YouTube platform, where we've all already learned to watch an introductory ad. Although analysts claim that ads that appear in the middle of the original video have great looks, advertisers do not

care too much about them, they want to show ads at first. And Facebook has started testing this option, although they have not officially commented on the news for the time being.

Trident Capital Cybersecurity & J.P. Morgan Chase

INVESTED $ 25M IN REVERSINGLABS

It is the largest single investment in the Croatian technology business. ReversingLabs were founded by two Croatians Tomislav PeriÄ?in and Mario Vuksan. From 2013 to 2016, they have grown from 12 to 39 employees, and only development allocations in the Zagreb

office grew from 5.9 to 18 million kuna. The company's only headquarters is located in Cambridge, USA, and operates in Switzerland as well. What ReversingLabs makes is a special development of hardware-software cybersecurity solutions for corporations. This is a cybersecurity company from which other cybersecurity companies buy technology. ReversingLabs has 200 major corporate clients. The company itself says it works for antivirus companies, security solution makers, government organizations, banks and large corporations. Especially highlights in ransomware prevention solutions.

The opening of the HGK Representative Office in Shanghai marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the economic relations between Croatia and China and I am convinced that the presence of the CCP "in the field" will contribute to a better and more successful economic co-operation of our two countries ", said Luka BuriloviÄ‡, president of the Croatian-Chinese Economic Forum at the opening HGK's Representative Office in Shanghai added that trade between Croatia and China is far from satisfactory (EUR 656 million in 2016), especially if we look at the Chinese market potential.

Croatian National Bank

FOREIGN DEBT FELL TO 39.6BN. EUROS

Oracle

NEW GENERATION OF CLOUD APPLICATIONS SUPPORTING DIGITAL ECONOMY IN CROATIA

Oracle has hosted a regional conference called "Oracle Modern Business Forum", which has introduced solutions that can help Croatian fast-growing and large companies to further accelerate their own digital transformation and boost business growth by using Oracle's SaaS (Software as a Service) Cloud Generation Application , which now have built-in and artificial intelligence (AI). This technological div further expands its largest, richest, and fastest growing application group in the cloud. Innovations

in the new version have an impact on further enhancing user experience and empower business users by improving aspects related to customer experience management, finance, human resource management, or logistics.

The latest data indicate a continuation of the reduction of gross external debt (external debt, debt to foreign entities) at the annual level. Namely, at the end of August, gross foreign debt amounted to HRK 39.6bn. euro, which is by 4.1bn. (9.3%) less than the end of August last year. At the same time, it also fell by 1.6% to EUR 635m on a monthly basis, while the external debt was down by HRK 2bn. Euro (4.9%). In this, the debt of private non-financial corporations decreased by EUR 860 million, while the debt of public non-financial corporations decreased by EUR 430 million. The category "Other Monetary Financial Institutions", which includes banks, savings banks and housing savings banks and cash funds, has also continued to diligently overseas. Thus, the total external debt of this category in August was 21.3% (1bn) lower than in August last year and amounted to HRK 3.83bn. Euros.

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Brodosplit

CRUISE SHIP FOR POLAR AREAS The polar field cruise ship will be the first ship in the world to be built in the "LR PC6" class, which will meet the latest Lloyd Registry requirements for "Polar Class 6" vessels, pointing out in Brodosplit and explaining that it is 107.6 meters long, wide 17 , 6 meters and a speed of 15 knots will provide two main engines with a total output of 4260 kW. According to them, it will be possible to accommodate 196 passengers accommodated in 85 cabins. Their passengers will be offered a high standard of hotel as well as various cabins ranging from spacious apartments to two-room and four-room cabins, where they will be provided with multiple secured systems to provide safe and comfortable stay.

EasyJet

SEVEN NEW ROUTES FROM CROATIA

The EasyJet airline continues to expand to the Croatian market by opening seven new routes from Croatia, including four from Pula to Basel, Liverpool, London Southend and Milan's Malpensa. EasyJet already has 46 flight routes from the four Croatian airports - Dubrovnik, Pula, Split and Zadar. In the last twelve months, the airliner transported a record number of passengers to and from Croatia over the last twelve months, over 910,000 of them, which is a 35 percent hike compared to the previous year. EasyJet expects a record-breaking summer next year with more than 3,100 flights and 540,000 seats offered on flights to Croatia in July and August.

Bitcoin

BITCOIN'S VALUE TO GROW BY $2.100 BY THE END OF 2017 In December, the value of the bitcoin market exceeded $12 billion. In just one year, the value of this virtual currency which has conquered the world and which, until recently, was been regarded by many as a "pretty little experiment", rose 60 percent. At the beginning of the year, market capitalization amounted to just $ 4.2 billion. One bitcoin today costs $780, and its incredible growth is the proof of the development of the alternative currency market that is not controlled by centralized authorities. However, this is just the beginning of bitcoin's uprise because economic analysts predict a rise in its value by as much as 165 percent in the next 12 months.

Booking.com

NEW OPTION THAT MAKES SEARCHING AND BOOKING EASIER Booking.com, one of the world's largest e-commerce and digital technology companies, has released a pilot version of its new service and customer support chat called Booking Assistant, which has since been available worldwide for bookings made in English. Booking Assistant is the latest feature of the Booking.com's messaging platform and combines artificial intelligence technology with the already excellent customer support of Booking. com. The Booking Assistant service is available to an increasing number of travellers, and offers quick answers to the most common questions about staying guests via intuitive chat interface.

Apple

APPLE BUYS SHAZAM FOR $400 MILLION

Shazam is a company established in the UK in 1999 which enables its users to recognize and purchase music via smartphones or PCs based on a snippet of a music track. The British company claims to have more than 100 million users a month, and most of its revenue comes from commissions paid based on orders forwarded from the Apple iTunes Store. Neither Apple nor Shazam have commented on the reports by the TechCrunch website.

I NTERVIEW

Museum that Always Teaches You Something New Technical Museum Nikola Tesla is engaged in popularization of science, and is hereby inviting visitors to participate in its experiments MARKITA FRANULIĆ

Director of Technical Museum Nikola Tesla in Zagreb

Year-on-year, Technical Museum Nikola Tesla has been one of the most popular museums in Zagreb and Croatia. Why is that so?

— The great popularity of the museum is based on many years „The museum constantly creates new content, both formal and informal, which makes it one of the most popular museums in Zagreb and Croatia. With the availability of the EU funds, the museum will become even more attractive, both spatially and content-wise“, says Markita Franulić, Director of Technical Museum Nikola Tesla, for Diplomacy&Commerce magazine.

of formal and informal content, informative guided tours, lectures, as well as through demonstrations and experiments for school children and visitors of diverse profiles and ages. The experimental and didactic activity of the museum

NIKOLA TESLA'S DEMONSTRATION CABINET IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ATTRACTIONS IN THE MUSEUM, AND IN PARTICULAR THE TESLA TRANSFORMER AND FARADAY CAGE of successful work in organizing visits and cooperating with schools and travel agents. The education component of the museum is today realized through various types

comprises of conducting demonstrations and experiments, where visitors acquire knowledge through their own experience and participation. Informative guide tours

are part of our regular free services for all groups, and for individual visitors during special hours. We also have daily guided tours and demonstrations which are held in the spectacular-looking mine, the Nikola Tesla Demonstration Cabinet, and the planetarium. Both the museum exhibits and buildings tell an interesting story, and are all considered cultural heritage. Could you tell us more about the history of the buildings and their reconstruction stages?

— The museum buildings were built in 1949, and Marijan Haberle is the architect who designed the original building which was erect-

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ed opposite the old building of the Zagrebački Zbor in 25, Savska Street, originally as an extension of the exhibition area of the Zagreb Fair. After the Fair relocated, the complex was assigned to the Museum in 1959. The re-mapping and adaptation of the exhibition area into museum space was done by architect Marijan Haberle, the designer of the original building. This is a complex of wooden urban architectural structures which, together with the yard, are declared immovable cultural heritage and are listed in the Croatian Cultural Heritage Register. How much is the name of Nikola Tesla a magnet for foreign visitors, and what is there to see in this great scientist's cabinet which is a part of the museum exhibition?

— The museum bears Nikola Tesla's name since 2015, in honour of one of the true science bard. In the last few years, we have noticed an increase in the number of foreign visitors, and the name Nikola Tesla is definitely to blame for that. The museum equipped Nikola Tesla's Demonstration Cabinet back in 1976, and refurbished it in 2016. This is one of the biggest attractions in the museum. Every day, in the cabinet, we stage a dozen or so experiments involving Tesla's rotary magnetic field, high frequency currents, wireless transmission of electromagnetic titers, remote controlled boat, the Tesla turbine and others. We also invite visitors to actively participate in some of these experiments. How important are technical innovations today in bringing the museum closer to the public, and what can the museum offer to future visitors in this respect?

— Unfortunately, our museum does not utilize numerous technical innovations in its presentation. Although, we have interactive exhibits in our Renewable Energy Resources and Energy Efficiency

would be located in the same complex as the Tesla Tower. Which exhibitions in the museum are the most popular among your youngest visitors?

THE REFURBISHMENT OF THE MUSEUM WILL BE COMPLETED IN 2018. AFTER THAT, OUR PLAN IS TO RECONSTRUCT THE YARD, AND CONTINUE WITH THE RENOVATION OF THE FACADE

— Young visitors are particularly interested in the exhibits in the Traffic Department, as well as in our life-size model of coal and metal ore mine right in the heart of the city, located five meters below the museum and stretching 100 metres in length, which faithfully depicts the mining in the 20th century Croatia. Visiting the mine is something that they will remember forever. We often hear that from our visitors. In Astronautics, we have the models of spacecrafts, rockets and orbital stations used in the exploration of the Universe, and in the planetarium, which can take up to eighty visitors, we give lectures and showcase a realistic version of the starring sky. A permanent exhibition devoted to renewable sources and energy efficiency, as well as a reinstated nuclear power plant exhibit and an information corner dedicated to radioactive waste all cover current issues and social, technological and general social issues. How important is for the museum to have access to European funds, and how can they help in introducing new content?

Department, and touch screens in the Energy Transformation Department, our dominant way of presenting the exhibits is the old-fashioned one. Some exhibits are so old and have museological and historic value so we will try to preserve that in the future too. The museum has to draft a concept and put together new permanent exhibitions along with increasing the number of interactive exhibits. However, speaking from

our experience, having a guide taking you through the museum still plays a big role. Considering that our museum presents original historic material, both the equipment and technology used in presentation have to be in the service of providing additional information about that material. We have also drafted a project called 'The Experiment Park', and have made a proposal to the city government to make the park as an extension of the museum that

— In October, after a year and a half of a painstaking project evaluation and drafting, we signed an agreement on an EU grant worth around 2.5 million kunas. This money will be spent on drafting project documentation for interior refurbishment of our Hall B, and introduction of new content – a new permanent exhibition dedicated to communications, innovation exhibition and the exhibition about Croatia's contribution to scientific and technological achievements. We have also applied for funds with our culture programme dedicated to the integration of the citizens more than 54 years old.

CITY OF ZAGREB ASSISTING IN REFURBISHMENT OF THE MUSEUM To what extent can the museum count on the assistance from the City of Zagreb in implemenation of its ambitious modernization plans?? — The City of Zagreb finances and conducts the museum's refurbishment. The city is also our partner in the EU-funded project on drafting of project documentation for the reconstruction of the infrastructure, and the introduction of new content and services in the Hall B and in the museum's courtyard. Our design proposal for the Hall V, which is a separate building that would serve as an outdoor depot, a restoration and preparatory workshop, an exhibition area, a caffé and a media lab, has been included in the City's indicative list of investments financed from the EU funds through the ITU mechanism (Integrated Territorial Investments). The Hall V would definitely liven up the surrounding city areas.

U N - P O P L A R A RCH IT E CT U RE

Robin Hood Gardens and the Divisiveness of Brutalism The Victoria and Albert Museum is saving a chunk of the East London estate from demolition. Will it encourage a new appreciation of brutalist design?

IT HAS an almost mythical status in the canon of post-war British buildings. Clad in precast concrete panels, with apartments rising and descending from wide, raised decks (referred to as “streets in the sky”), Robin Hood Gardens embodies the brutalist desire to renegotiate the relationship between architecture, citizens and society. Built as two long concrete superstructures with a ceremonial mound at the centre of its ample public gardens, it is considered the realisation of the ideas that Peter and Alison Smithson, the great ideologues of brutalism, had promulgated through their teaching. The buildings, and its 252 flats, were to be a “demonstration of a more enjoyable way of living…of a new mode of urban organisation”. But by the time of the building’s completion in 1972, brutalism was already old hat. As with many public housing projects, the local authority budgets used to manage the estates were slashed in the late 1970s, and it fell into disrepair. Despite a campaign to have it placed on Historic England’s heritage list, the site is now being demolished to make way for more than 1,500 new homes. That is, apart from a small section rescued by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. A three-storey module of Robin Hood Gardens is currently being dismantled for assimilation into the V&A archive: it is the largest fragment of a modern building to be accepted by a museum. The rear and front concrete façades, concrete door casements and exterior decking will all be preserved, as will the interior maisonette. Museum technicians have already begun the painstaking work of removing original light fittings, kitchen units and airing cupboards which will later be reassembled. Although far bigger than previous acquisitions—the largest structure currently in the V&A’s possession is a 19th-century cast of Trajan’s column in Rome—the Robin Hood Gardens piece is in keeping with the museum’s attitude to architectural preservation. The 17th-century timber façade of Sir Paul Pindar’s house in Bishopsgate, London is currently on display in the museum. And while brutalism still leaves many cold, and Robin Hood Gardens is a particularly polarising incarnation of that style, contemporary historians of the period are excited. “Collecting a sample portion of RHG makes for a fascinating updating of the V&A’s 20th-century policy of collecting rooms and elements from

stately homes that were being demolished,” says Barnabas Calder, the author of “Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism”. Few institutions have attempted anything like this in terms of modern architecture, and Olivia Horsfall Turner, Senior Curator of Designs at the V&A, states that they have been incredibly ambitious. “The Cité de L’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris has a 1:1 model of an apartment from Le Corbusier’s classic Habi-

WHILE THE BUILDING STILL DIVIDES OPINION—IS IT THE ACME OF A NEW SOCIAL VISION, OR A GREY AND DAMP FAILURE?— THE V&A’S ACQUISITION WILL ALLOW THE PUBLIC AND DESIGNERS TO STUDY ITS CONSTRUCTION MORE CLOSELY tation in Marseille, but that isn’t original. And the Science Museum has a small section of the Ronan Point high rise [which partially collapsed in 1968].” But there are no examples of entire modernist apartments, both exterior and interior, in contemporary collections. The size will undoubtedly create interesting problems for creators and technicians in the months and years ahead. The poured concrete structure which supports all the rescued ele-

ments will need to be replaced so that the whole thing can stand up. Yet the decision to choose a tricky piece of public housing that is located in east London is not accidental. It came from Liza Fior, a partner at Muf, an architecture and art practice, who used a year-long residency at the V&A to explore how the museum’s new facility in Queen Elizabeth Park, the former Olympic site near Stratford, might relate to the community which surrounds it. Although the museum is remaining tight-lipped about the V&A East (as it is currently known), it is likely that the Robin Hood Gardens acquisition will be displayed there. While the building still divides opinion—is it the acme of a new social vision, or a grey and damp failure?—the V&A’s acquisition will allow the public and designers to study its construction more closely. It is possible that this process of re-contextualising the building may win it some new fans. “One of the many privileges of the residency was witnessing the thoughtful precision of the contractors, recording and planning the reverse construction processes of taking apart the two flats, piece by piece,” Ms Fior says. “It was a process which revealed, in turn, the thought involved in so many of the design moves in Robin Hood Gardens.” The irony is that the building had to be destroyed for this appreciation to take place. From The Economist, published under licence. The original article, in English, can be found on www.economist.com

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CO RPO RATE CC Real

Cornerstone of Successful Real Estate CC Real is fully integrated real estate company specialized in investments, financing, (re)development, asset and property management

Its focus is primarily on growth-oriented retail and office buildings. It was founded (2006) and it’s still owned by private individuals thus enabling direct decision-making resulting in a highly responsive and professional company environment. Company’s current portfolio of assets under management amounts to 1.7 billion Euros with total lettable shopping and office area of more than 500,000 m2 in Austria, Hungary and Croatia and with more than 60,000,000 shoppers annually. Total retail turnover in 2016 amounts to 940 million Euros. Within 6 years (2006 – 2012)

through the three shopping centers under the brand City Center one, CC Real invested 435 million euros into Croatia, which is the biggest greenfield investment in the country. In late 2012, CC Real expanded its operations to Austria, where it started to manage Center West in Graz. In 2014, when Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) invested in Millennium Tower and Millennium City in Vienna, CC Real

took over the management of the buildings. In the same year, also in partnership with MSREI, CC Real took over the management of MoM Park in Budapest and the year after management of shopping center Wien Mitte, situated in the center of Vienna. CC Real is a company that greatly relies on local resources for its business, believing that a project can be successful only if it is well

CC REAL IS A COMPANY THAT GREATLY RELIES ON LOCAL RESOURCES FOR ITS BUSINESS, BELIEVING THAT A PROJECT CAN BE SUCCESSFUL ONLY IF IT IS WELL INTEGRATED INTO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

integrated into the local community. Also, it’s the company that greatly values its partners and develops a long turn relationship with them. Adidas, Cineplexx, dm, Douglas, Humanic, H&M, IKEA, Interspar, KFC, Mango, Marionnaud, McDonald’s, Merkur, Müller, Nike, Peek&Cloppenburg, Saturn, Swarovski, Toys R Us and Zara, just to name a few, have been successfully doing business in shopping centers managed by CC Real and achieving excellent business results. An active growth strategy is pursued for the future because CC Real aims, together with its partners, to significantly enlarge its portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe.

I NTERVIEW

Ready for New Victories In order to accomplish top results, there are certain prerequisites that have to be met first, like the physical and psychological preparedness, and a mutual desire to accomplish these results

IVICA TUCAK

Head coach of the Croatian national water polo team

In the history of the Croatian water polo, 2017 will be remembered as a golden year. The popular „barracudas“ (the nickname for the Croatian national water polo team) have brought a lot of joy to the nation, but have also put in a lot of work to succeed. „I don't believe in luck in sports. I only believe in the amount of work and sacrifice one invests into accomplishing top results in any line of work“, says the head coach of the Croatian national water polo team, Ivica Tucak for Diplomacy&Commerce. First of all, we would like to congratulate you on winning the gold medal. Now, that the impressions from the world championship have settled, what do you think was the key factor that helped the Croatian team get that gold?

— Thank you! It is difficult to single out that one factor, or any factor, for that matter. What I can say for sure is that, in order to accomplish such top result, certain prerequisites have to be met first like the physical and psychological preparedness, and a mutual desire to accomplish these results. If you do that, you might succeed, and if you don't, there is no way you can succeed. Last time Croatia won a gold medal at a water polo world championship was almost ten years ago. How similar and how different are the teams that won the gold then and now, in terms

of their game style?

— It is difficult to compare the two national teams because, conceptually, they are completely different. I think that this national team is one of the fastest we have ever had which affects their game style. What is common to both teams is that they felt massively motivated to win the gold medal. Only Joković and Bušlje remain from the old team. How important was their experience in winning the championship?

— Their experience is definitely very important for our national team because, apart from them, we have a few more players who are

petitions like world championships. At times, we were probably not mature enough to take the gold. Sometimes, only nuances were to blame. I don't believe in luck in sports. I only believe in the amount of work and sacrifice one invests into accomplishing top results in any line of work.

THIS IS THE SIXTH CONSECUTIVE MEDAL THAT CROATIA WON AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. THERE ARE GOLD MEDALS WON IN MELBOURNE AND BUDAPEST, AND THREE BRONZE MEDALS WON IN ROME IN 2009, SHANGHAI IN 2011, AND BARCELONA IN 2013 experienced in playing big games which is significant when we are psychologicaly preparing for the games, particularly those in the socalled knockout stage. This is the sixth consecutive medal that Croatia won at world championships. There are gold medals won in Melbourne and Budapest, and three bronze medals won in Rome in 2009, Shanghai in 2011, and Barcelona in 2013. Also, two years ago, the team won a silver medal in Kazan. Do you think that it was only bad luck that stopped the team from winning more gold medals, and do you even believe in luck in sports?

— Look, every game is different, and let's not even talk about com-

There has been a lot of debating about financial compensation for water polo players and coaches because it is lower than the one that gold winning national teams in other sports get. Are you satisfied with this compensation, and how important are finances in this sport?

— It is very difficult to give an answer to such question. Some

would argue that we play for money, and that is partially true. It is also unbelievable that some of our main competitors get 10 or even 15 times bigger financial compensation that we do. Regardless, I would like to commend the Croatian government for recently deciding to raise this financial compensation by 100%, and I do believe that us winning the gold medal contributed to them making such decision. How much do the successes of the national water polo team draw children to the sport? How much personally are you invested in this?

— They definitely play a big role in making the sport popular among children. After winning the gold medal, we experienced something that was unheard of before in water polo. We got so much media attention which made the sport even more popular, and resulted in more children now training water polo which is very significant.

HAPPY AND PROUD OF RESULTS What does the best national water polo team in the world in 2017 wish for 2018?? — I have said on several occasions that we should be happy and proud of the results we have achieved, but not satisfied with them. Satisfaction is a trap where there is no real motivation, and this is unacceptable in sport. We are obligated to continue working even harder and be even more committed.

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EC O NO MY

Text: ŽIKICA MILOŠEVIĆ

Find Your Own Way And say “no” to “no future”

health service would increase to 2,700 EUR from the current 1,000 EUR, while nurses would earn 900 EUR compared to the current 530 EUR. Salaries of certain university professors will go up by 100%, and this increase will be implemented gradually, in the period from 2018 to 2022. The effects of such changes will cost the state close to 10 billion EUR in the next five years. WHO IS AGAINST?

Romania has instigated a rebellion in the EU, but this is a type of rebellion that shoud be widely copied. They raised the salaries in the public sector, principally for medical workers and teachers, thus stopping braindrain of the educated Romanian workforce towards the West. The move was highly criticised by the EC and, no surprise, by the IMF. But, should anyone listen to them at their own risk? ROMANIAN SECOND REVOLUTION

Around about this time of the year, in 1989, Romania experienced its first revolution when a mass of dissatisfied people removed the then President Nicolae Ceausescu from power because of the nation's low living standard. Back in the day, the living standard in Romania was the worst out of all Socialist countries in Europe. Romanians were the butt of joke in Bulgaria with the Bulgarians mocking them by saying „Compared to you, we are like Yugoslavia“. Now that Yugoslavia is gone and Bulgaria and

Romania are in the EU, they are not doing badly at all. Romania is still in a slightly better position than Serbia. But Romanians were never willing to „disappear quietly into the night“, but were rather keen to rebel. This time around, the rebellion did not take place in the streets, but in the national parliament which passed a law that should put an end to a tragic situation that is similar to the one happening in Serbia too – that of the most educated people, doctors

Of course, nobody. At least not in Romania. However, the world centres of power could not let the sleeping dogs lie. The EC has recently warned the official Bucharest not to raise civil servant salaries, while the IMF underlined that the successive decrease in tax rates in the last two years had already significantly depleted the state budget. According to them, Romania is doomed because of the said costs as if these costs don't already exist because you are schooling scientists and doctors

HOWEVER, DECLARING THE CONSENSUS 'DEAD' HAPPENS ONLY WHEN A CRISIS IS LOOMING, AND ONCE THE CRISIS IS OVER, A NEW BUBBLE OF THE ZOMBIFIED WASHINGTON CONSENSUS IS FORMED. THE QUESTION IS FOR HOW LONG? and nurses, leaving the country to go and work in West Europe, namely in Italy, Norway and especially Germany. The law, for which 188 Romanian MPs voted in favour and 28 against, stipulates that the monthly salary of the best ranked doctors who work in the national

who are anyway going to leave the country. How about costs that arise as a result of inadequate healthcare which adversly affect the nation's health? But let's dig deeper into what the IMF has actually been doing in the world this year. Actually, the IMF is not concerned with your

development, but is more concerned with helping you to achieve macroeconomic and budget stability so you can pay your debt. No country has ever achieved development by listening to the IMF. The case of South Korea is a pretty telling one because this country did not listen to the IMF, and did everything the opposite. Today, South Korea is called Asian Tigar because of its economic prowess. Following in the South Korean footsteps, Sri Lanka also refused to obey by the IMF's conditions. The Sinhalese clearly demonstrated just how detrimental the IMF's therapy was. Despite voting „yes“ at the referendum, Greece did decide to listen to the IMF, and now their chances of recovery are slim. Greece is dependant on „international assistance“ (that's a pretty way of saying it), or rather has been neck deep in unfavourable loans granted by the IMF and EU's financial institutions since 2010. In order to be eligible for more financial assistance, Greece had to cut back on public sector salaries, increase taxes, and implement market reforms in order to increase budget revenue. In the meantime, the recession deepened, a quarter of economy was erased, and almost every fourth work-capable person is left jobless. There is no future, to quote Sex Pistols. Hungary, Poland, Turkey, Russia and Kazakhstan have all managed to escape IMF's 'embrace'. However, the poorest countries like Moldavia, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, are still in IMF's clutches. Sapienti sat!

THE WASHINGTON CONSENSUS After they decided to leave the Consensus, the Latin American countries experienced a huge economic growth. Case in point – Brazil! Whichever country remained in the Consensus, it recorded a negligible growth and suffered from mass impoverishment with the elite continuing to amass their riches. Western states, which abode to the Consensus' rules, found themselves in budget problems due to lowering taxes for the richest segments to the society. Twenty five years since the implementation of this neoliberal system in the US, there have been huge social and financial

changes. In the begining of its implementation, the richest 1% earned 12% of all disbursed salaries in the US, and controlled 33% of its economy. Today, these 1% earn 25% of all disbursed salaries in the country, and control 40% of its economy. Economic growth in the country has been much slower than during the so-called Keynesian golden age, and we all know that there is no success without development. Critics of the Consensus advocate returning to the European model or the so-called Beijing Consensus. Back in 2009, the then British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown declared Consensus dead.

EVENT

Gala Dinner: The World in 2018 Exclusively, for the first time in Belgrade, Color Media Communications and Diplomacy&Commerce magazine organized the very first “Gala dinner: World in 2018” in Belgrade. The host of the dinner was Robert Čoban, President of the

CPG, and the main speaker at the dinner was the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Ana Brnabić. The gala dinner was the opportunity to exchange opinions, attitudes and comments related to political, economic and economic trends in Serbia, the region and the world.

ANA BRNABIĆ:

WE SHOULD KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD DO

“Next year can really be a crucial year for many important decisions, if there is leadership and courage, and with luck we can wait for the end of 2018 with the Balkans, which looks completely different and sends a completely different message”, told Serbian PM Ana Brnabić, during the interview. “It is my pleasure, after Hong Kong, that we have the ‘The World in 2018” in Belgrade. Hong Kong was excellent and what is especially important for me is that, as the Serbian Prime Minister, I was invited to be the main speaker on such an important global event. I think it is important for both Serbia and the region, and I think it is good that we used this opportunity to send a more positive, a more optimistic message about the Balkans. That message is that we do not always have to come from someone to tell us what to do and how to talk to each oth-

er, but that we can show that we can do it ourselves, and that we are therefore mature enough and responsible enough to we are members of the European family of peoples” Brnabić said. Speaking about the challenges ahead of Serbia in the EU integration process, Brnabić specifically referred to the overcoming of tensions in the region (Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, relations with Croatia): “I think that personal relationships are of key importance and that has a huge role, and that’s best seen in the case of my predecessor, Aleksandar Vučić, who started developing these personal relations with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama.“ Gala dinner “World in 2018” was attended by distinguished guests- representatives of the Government of Serbia, chambers of commerce, diplomatic corps and economy in Serbia.

www.diplomacyandcommerce.hr

Following the conclusion of the talks with the PM, Karla Hershey, the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Serbia, addressed the guests, saying: " Fortunately, the Government recognized that SDG's agenda is something that should not be left to the side. I want to congratulate the Government of Serbia, they did a fantastic job in just a few months. The UN supports this process and we expect this work to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. "

Dubravka Negre, Head of the European Investment Bank for the WB, stressed the importance of continuing the implementation of the initiated reforms in Serbia in order to improve the economic climate, regional cooperation, the continuation of the European integration process, strengthening and improving the infrastructure, with the aim of ensuring stable and long-term economic growth and improvements of living conditions of citizens of Serbia.

C ALEND AR & NE W S

CU L T U RE CA L E N DA R Schedule

THE 25th CROATIAN ACADEMY AWARD CEREMONY

The jubilee 25th Croatian Academy Awards, also dubbed the Croatian Oscar, were given out at a ceremony at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb The ceremony was especially poignant for actress Zdenka Heršak and pianist Vladimir Kranjčević who both received awards for their great artistic contribution to acting and opera respectively. Pianist, conductor and music professor, Vladimir Kranjčević received the award for his artistic contribution to the opera and the role he played in the Croatian cultural life during his 56-year-long and bountiful artistic career. During his career, maestro Kranjčević taught generations of Croatian musicians, promoted music art and the musical works of Croatian musicians. He was also the director, artistic director and head conductor of many opera and classical music establishments in Croatia. The Croatian Culture Minister, Nina Obuljen Koržinek handed the award to maestro Kranjčević who said that it was his great honour to receive it on the main stage of the Croatian National Theatre which he holds “a sacred place”. Actress Zdenka Heršak received the award for her great contribution to dramatic arts and exceptional acting style, in addition to her numerous unforgettable theatre, film, TV and radio drama roles.

actor award for his role of Frane in the play “Jedan Sluga, Dva Gospodara” (One Servant, Two Masters), directed by Vito Taufer from the Kerempuh Satirical Theatre in Zagreb. Jasna Ančić received the best leading actress award for her role of the Woman in the play “I am Leaving You”, directed by Matjaž Latin and produced by the Croatian National Theatre from Zadar. The award for the best supporting role went to Siniša Popović for his role of Nikola in Mate Matišić’s play “Wax People”, directed by Janusz Kica and produced by the Croatian National Theatre from Zagreb. The jury declared the children play “Sherlock Holmes”, directed by Krešimir Dolenčić and produced by the Zagreb Youth Theatre (ZKM), as the best puppet play for children. The best actress award in the puppet play category went to Anja Đurinović for her role in “The Game Continues” (the Prijatelj Theatre, Zagreb), while the best actor award in the same category went to Siniša Novković for his role in “From an Atom to a Cell” (the City Youth Theatre from Split). Hrvoje Ivanković and Ivica

CROATIAN NATIONAL THEATRE IN ZAGREB Thursday, December 28 2017 at 19.30 Ballet Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

THE NUTCRACKER

Choreography: Derek Deane

Friday, December 29 2017 at 19.30 Ballet Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

THE NUTCRACKER

Choreography: Derek Deane

Saturday, December 30 2017 at 19.30 Drama Kristian Novak

GYPSY, YET SO HANDSOME PREMIERE

Sunday, December 31 2017 at 18,00 Ballet Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker Choreography: Derek Deane Tuesday, January 02 2018 at 19.30 Ballet Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

THE NUTCRACKER

Choreography: Derek Deane

Wednesday, January 03 2018 at 19.30 Drama Kristian Novak

GYPSY, YET SO HANDSOME

Thursday, January 04 2018 at 19.30 Ballet Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky

ERO THE JOKER

Conductor: Nikša Bareza Thursday, January 11 2018 at 19.30 Drama Vjekoslav Majer - Krešo Golik Rene Medvešek

ONE SONG A DAY TAKES MISCHIEF AWAY

Friday, January 12 2018 at 19,30 Drama Vjekoslav Majer - Krešo Golik Rene Medvešek

ONE SONG A DAY TAKES MISCHIEF AWAY

Saturday, January 13 2018 at 18,00 Drama Vjekoslav Majer - Krešo Golik Rene Medvešek

ONE SONG A DAY TAKES MISCHIEF AWAY

Tuesday, January 09 2018 at 19.30 Drama Kristian Novak

GYPSY, YET SO

GYPSY, YET SO HANDSOME

Sunday, January 21 2018 at 11,00 Opera Insight into the premiere

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN BY RICHARD WAGNER

Wednesday, January 24 2018 at 19.30 Ballet Miroslav Krleža - Leo Mujić

THE GLEMBAYS

Thursday, January 25 2018 at 19.30 Ballet Miroslav Krleža - Leo Mujić

THE GLEMBAYS

Friday, January 26 2018 at 19.30 Opera Richard Wagner

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

Monday, January 15 2018 at 19,30 Opera Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev

Director: Polly Tritschler; ensemble: Dragan Despot, Alma Prica, Livio Badurina, Luka Dragić, Mislav Čavajda, Slavko Juraga, Jadranka Đokić, Silvio Vovk, Ivan Glowatzky, Alen Šalinović, Dušan Gojić, Damir Markovina etc.

BADCO. CORRECTING RHYTHM

Tuesday, January 16 2018 at 19.30 Ballet Miroslav Krleža - Leo Mujić

Monday, January 08 2018 at 19.30 Drama Vjekoslav Majer - Krešo Golik Rene Medvešek

Saturday, January 20 2018 at 18,00 Drama Kristian Novak

Saturday, January 27 2018 at 18,00 Drama William Shakespeare

Friday, January 05 2018 at 19.30 Ballet Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky Choreography: Derek Deane

GYPSY, YET SO HANDSOME

Saturday, January 13 2018 at 21,00 Drama

THE LOVE FOR THREE ORANGES

THE NUTCRACKER

Boban won the award for the best drama concept and the play adaptation for the play “Marin Držić – Viktorija of Enemies” (performed at the 68th Dubrovnik Summer Festival). Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Otello, conducted by Ville Matvejeff, directed by Marin Blažević, and produced by the Croatian National Theatre from Zagreb, was declared the best in its respective category.

Wednesday, January 10 2018 at 19.30 Opera Jakov Gotovac

THE NUTCRACKER

Choreography: Derek Deane

Kristijan Novak’s play “Črna Mati Zemla”, adapted by Tomislav Zajec, directed by Dora Ruždjak Podolski and produced by the Zagreb Youth Theatre (ZKM), won the award for the best drama. Ruždjak Podolski also received the best director award for the play, while Urša Raukar was the winner in the best supporting actress category for her role as the Grandmother in the play. Borko Perić won the best leading

HANDSOME

THE GLEMBAYS

Wednesday, January 17 2018 at 19.30 Ballet Miroslav Krleža - Leo Mujić

THE GLEMBAYS

Thursday, January 18 2018 at 19,30 Ballet Miroslav Krleža - Leo Mujić

THE GLEMBAYS

Friday, January 19 2018 at 19.30 Drama Kristian Novak

THE WINTER'S TALE

Monday, January 29 2018 at 19.30 Opera Richard Wagner

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

Tuesday, January 30 2018 at 19.30 Drama Kristian Novak

GYPSY, YET SO HANDSOME

Wednesday, January 31 2018 at 19.30 Opera Richard Wagner

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN