Veleposlanstvo Republike Hrvatske u Sjedinjenim Ameri kim Državama
Embassy of the Republic of Croatia to the United States of America
2343 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C. 20008
Press office, Phone: (202) 986 9476 Fax.: (202) 588 8938
E-mail: press@croatiaemb.org
www.croatiaemb.org

PRESS RELEASE 05/04

U Washingtonu održan panel o mogunostima ulaganja u Hrvatsku
 

Washington DC, 20. svibnja, 2004 – Panel o mogunostima ulaganja u Republiku Hrvatsku, naslovljen “Ulaganje u Hrvatsku: Mogunosti rasta“, održan je u etvrtak, 20. svibnja u Washingtonu. Panel, održan u konferencijskom centru Georgetown sveu ilišta organizirala je udruga amerikanaca hrvatskog porijekla “Hrvatska kua“. Cilj panela bio je u informiranju potencijalnih ameri kih ulaga a o izazovima i investicijskim mogunostima za strane ulagae u Hrvatsku, uklju ujui i pregled politi kih i gospodarskih uvjeta, fiskalne politike te o ekivane pravosudne reforme. Osim toga, organizatori panela nastojali su ameri kim kompanijama predstaviti specifi ne industrijske grane i mogunosti ulaganja, kao i otvoriti dijalog izmeu potencijalnih ameri kih investitora i predstavnika hrvatskog privatnog i javnog sektora.
U ime hrvatske Vlade, okupljene na panelu pozdravio je David Sopta, Pomonik ministra vanjskih poslova za meunarodnu gospodarsku suradnju. Panelisti su bili dr. Ante Babi, državni tajnik Središnjeg državnog ureda za razvojnu strategiju Hrvatske; Dunja Konjevod, direktorica Sektora za meunarodne odnose Hrvatske gospodarske komore; Wade Channell, Predsjednik Ameri ke gospodarske komore u Hrvatskoj; Zdravko Mari, asistent na Ekonomskom Institutu u Zagrebu; Victor Dodig, izvršni direktor za globalno upravljanje sredstvima UBS banke iz Toronta te Milan Racic, osniva i izvršni direktor konzultantske tvrtke Load Factor Consulting Group iz Washingtona. U ime organizatora, “Hrvatske kue“, skup su pozdravili dr. Danica Ramljak te dr. Neven Mates. Panele su moderirali Vladimir Hrka iz Svjetske banke te Dr. Damon Revelas, iz Ameri kog koledža menadžmenta i tehnologije u Dubrovniku.
Pomonik ministra vanjskih poslova David Sopta, pozdravio je okupljene u ime hrvatske Vlade. Govorei o približavanju Republike Hrvatske Europskoj Uniji, David Sopta rekao je kako nedavno dobiveni pozitivni avis prema mišljenju Vlade predstavlja jasan signal svim potencijalnim investitorima u Hrvatsku. “Nova hrvatska Vlada posebnu pozornost posveuje razvoju gospodarstva te osobito ja anju gospodarske diplomacije, na emu u Ministarstvu vanjskih poslova intenzivno radimo“, rekao je David Sopta, pozvavši stotinjak okupljenih da razmotre Hrvatsku kao poslovnog partnera. Dr. Ante Babi, državni tajnik Središnjeg državnog ureda za razvojnu strategiju Hrvatske, u svojem je izlaganju prikazao klju ne hrvatske makroekonomske pokazatelje. Govorei o gospodarskim granama s izvoznim potencijalom, a koje Vlada planira unaprijediti, istaknuo je poljoprivredu, prehrambenu industriju, tekstilnu, drvopreraiva ku i metalnopreraiva ku industriju te brodogradnju. Osim toga, rekao je dr. Babi, Vlada e nastojati razviti i druge industrijske grane poput automobilske, kozmeti ke, biotehnološke te elektroindustrije. “Cilj Vladinih mjera je udvostru iti izvoz u sljedee etiri godine te do 2007. poveati BDP na 10.000 dolara po glavi stanovnika“, rekao je dr. Babi. Govorei o potezima Vlade koji bi trebali podržati izvoznike te olakšati pristup Hrvatskoj investitorima, dr. Babi istaknuo je osnivanje agencija ExportCroatia i InvestCroatia, koje se planira do konca 2004. godine. Panel su sponzorirale kompanije Steve Bubalo Construction Co. i Load Factor Group, udruge ameri kih Hrvata Croatian American Association, National Federation of Croatian Americans i AMAC-National Capital Group te Veleposlanstvo Republike Hrvatske u SAD.

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Za dodatne informacije, molimo kontaktirajte:
Alan Vojvodi, Veleposlanstvo Republike Hrvatske u SAD., (202) 986 9476,press@croatiaemb.org

PANEL DISCUSSION ON INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN CROATIA

 "Investment in Croatia: Prospects for Growth"

 May 20, 2004
 6:00 P.M.
 Georgetown University Conference Center

 On Thursday, May 20, 2004, the Croatian House of Washington,
 D.C. will host a panel discussion at Georgetown University
 Conference Center titled "Investment in Croatia: Prospects for
 Growth." The purpose of this event is to inform the audience
 about developments, challenges and investment opportunities
 for foreign investors in Croatia, including the overview of the
 country's political and economic conditions, fiscal policies and
 anticipated legal reforms. There are two main goals for the
 discussion: One of them is to highlight specific industry sectors
 and opportunities for investments by foreign companies, and
 American companies in particular, in Croatia. And the second
 goal is to provide a forum for potential U.S. investors and
 Croatian private and public sector representatives to discuss
 opportunities for concrete business cooperation.

 Included in the panel discussion will be presentations by
 officials from both Croatian and U.S. government, investment
 overviews from experienced entrepreneurs and a discussion
 session, which will give audience the opportunity to ask
 questions. The panelists will include: Dr. Ante Babic, State
 Secretary of the Central State Administrative Office for the
 Development Strategy of the Republic of Croatia; Mr. Nadan
 Vidosevic, President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce; Mr.
 Wade Channell, President of the American Chamber of
 Commerce in Croatia; Dr. Borislav Skegro, CEO of Quaestus
 private equity fund and former Minister of Finance and Deputy
 Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia; Mr. Victor Dodig, CEO
 of the global asset management group of UBS in Toronto,
 Canada and Mr. Milan Racic, CEO of the Load Factor Consulting
 Group in Washington, D.C.

 This panel discussion will be of particular interest to
 representatives of companies and financial institutions in the
 United States looking for business opportunities in Croatia. It
 will also be of interest to companies and financial institutions in
 Croatia looking for investors and joint venture partners.

 The event is sponsored by the Croatian House and
 co-sponsored by Steve Bubalo Construction Co., AMAC National
 Capital Group, Croatian American Association, National
 Federation of Croatian Americans and the Croatian Embassy,
 Washington, D.C.

 To request further information and to register for the event,
 please contact Dr. Danica Ramljak, Croatian House Vice
 President at ramljakd@msn.com .

Dr CG Stroehm, a great friend of Croatia

Dear Colleagues,
Here is a nice piece- obituary- on Dr CG Stroehm, a great friend of Croatia -
that appeared in the German daily die Welt, today. CG Stroehm was a great visionary; even Solshenytsin asked him for his views on communism. C. Stroehm passed away on May 14, 2004. According to my unconfirmed info, his funerals will be held in nearby Carinthia, Austria.
regards
T. Sunic
http://www.welt.de/data/2004/05/18/279489.html?prx=1

Ein Herz für die kleinen Nationen: Zum Tode von Carl Gustaf Ströhm [PARA]Alexander Scholschenyzin hatte, kaum in Deutschland angekommen, den dringenden Wunsch, "den Ströhm" zu sprechen. Schon damals, 1974, galt Carl Gustaf Ströhm als glänzender Analytiker der Vorgänge in der kommunistischen Hemisphäre, als ein Journalist, dem man mit der Formel von der Anerkennung der Realitäten nicht imponieren konnte. Er buhlte nie um die Interview-Gunst der Mächtigen von Prag bis Moskau, er suchte stattdessen, nicht ohne persönliches Risiko, das Gespräch mit den Arbeitern, den Intellektuellen, den Dissidenten, den Menschen von "ganz unten". So blieb er resistent gegenüber allen Einflüsterungen der Politiker: ein unbestechlicher Beobachter, gefürchtet in den östlichen Schaltzentralen, geliebt von seinen Lesern und gelegentlich getadelt von Entspannungseuphorikern in deutschen Regierungskanzleien. [PARA]Der Sohn eines Baltendeutschen und einer Russin, 1930 in der estnischen Hauptstadt Reval (Tallinn) geboren, hatte ein Herz und auch den richtigen Blick für die nationalen Minderheiten und die kleinen Nationen; er wusste, dass unter der Tünche der kommunistischen Ideologie die Völker und Volksgruppen fortbestehen, mit all ihren historischen Größen und Belastungen, und konnte deshalb sehr früh, anfangs noch belächelt, den Zerfall des Tito-Imperiums Jugoslawien voraussagen. [PARA]Ströhms journalistisches Schlüsselerlebnis war der Ungarn-Aufstand 1956, von dem er als junger Reporter berichtete. In Tübingen promovierte er mit einer Arbeit über den russischen Bürgerkrieg. Von 1966 bis 1972 arbeitete der Historiker und Slawist für die Deutsche Welle, dann bis 1999 für die WELT. "Der Ströhm" wurde zum Inbegriff gediegener, furchtloser Ost- und Südosteuropaberichterstattung. Dreisprachig aufgewachsen (Deutsch, Russisch, Estnisch), konnte er sich später in fast allen osteuropäischen Sprachen verständigen. Kleine Länder wie Estland und Kroatien haben ihm hohe Orden verliehen. Am 14. Mai ist Carl Gustaf Ströhm mit 74 Jahren in Wien gestorben. fac[NL][NL][PARA]Artikel erschienen am 18. Mai 2004
Artikel drucken

(c) WELT.de 1995 - 2004
 

Croatia, the new darling of the Mediterranean tourist scene

Bathing in the warm Adriatic sun
By Faith Glasgow
Published: May 13 2004 15:26 | Last Updated: May 13 2004 15:26

Croatia, basking in the glory of its 1,400 miles of unspoilt coastline and 1,165 idyllic islands, is the new darling of the Mediterranean tourist scene.

British holidaymakers looking for an affordable alternative to the CĂ´te d'Azur or Tuscany have certainly voted with their feet.

According to the Croatian tourist board, the number of visitors more than tripled from 1999 to 2003 (though they are still only around a third of the level in 1990, before the Yugoslavian conflict).

Tourist enthusiasm has spilled over into the international second-home market - still in its infancy and with rough corners yet to be sorted out, but growing rapidly. In April, for example, UK-based estate agent FPD Savills announced a formal link-up with Dubrovnik-based property agent Croatiansun.

"Quite a few of our clients have expressed interest in buying a villa there after yachting around the islands, and we felt Croatiansun had done their homework on purchase procedures," says Charles Weston Baker, head of FPD Savills' international department.

The same week, the London launch of a scheme by property investment company Letterstone, offering investors the opportunity to buy into an upmarket island development with guaranteed rental returns, attracted so much interest that the venue had to be changed at short notice.

The attractions, beyond issues of stunningly beautiful scenery and sailing paradise, are several. For a start, Croatia is only a two-and-a-half-hour flight from the UK and has become more accessible to Britons with the introduction in March of thrice-weekly British Airways flights to Dubrovnik.

Second, the international property market there is still so immature as to offer interesting opportunities for investors. Paul Keppler, managing director of Croatiansun (which has a sister company based in Spain), estimates that new apartments in Dubrovnik, the most expensive place to buy, are about half the price of comparable properties on the Costa del Sol in Spain. "Admittedly, prices in Dubrovnik have risen about 20 per cent in the past 12 to 18 months, but they came from a very low starting point," he says.

But the youthfulness of the market brings its own challenges. Maria Bennett is an enterprising Irish woman who fell in love with the country and bought a flat in a 11th-century convent in old Dubrovnik for £25,000 six years ago. Fired with enthusiasm, she and a Croatian partner set up a UK-based search agency attempting to find Croatian properties for UK buyers.

"We had more than 500 people registered and tremendous support from the Croatian ambassador in London, but the big problem was a massive shortage of supply," she explains.

"Basically, Croatian families prefer to leave property to their kids rather than sell it, and local estate agents didn't want to deal with foreigners; so we would be offered the dregs for our clients - things that had been started in the 1980s and never finished, or old ruins, often belonging to an extended family and therefore very difficult to negotiate on.

I planned initially to team up with a local estate agent but there just weren't any I felt I could work with and trust." Lack of money and the complexities of the market finally defeated Bennett, though she still owns her flat (now worth about £65,000).

"The biggest difficulty remains the supply of suitable holiday property," says Keppler. "We just don't have any smart new three-bedroom villas for an international market at this stage, so it's a matter of building your own or picking through the limited domestic market." That will change gradually as developers become more active and also as existing foreign owners put their properties on the market.

Meanwhile, Keppler estimates that around £100,000 would see you comfortably installed in your own custom-built Mediterranean beachfront idyll on one of the islands.

So far, though, most of Croatiansun's buyers have been investment-oriented, looking for capital growth and rental yield from good quality holiday apartments that can easily be rented out to the growing tourist market.

"Two bedroom apartments are currently around £100,000 in Dubrovnik, and we're seeing yields of around 8 per cent, net of management charges," says Keppler.

British and other foreign developers are now in evidence, building schemes geared to this international tourist demand.

But the Croatian government is reassuringly keen to avoid the architectural eyesores blighting other parts of the Med, and strict building controls limit the number of storeys, building density and proximity to the sea.

Deep Blue is a marina development, near Zadar in northern Dalmatia, complete with health-spa hotel, bars and restaurants. Fifty of the 400 apartments are being offered to investors by Letterstone, with a guaranteed rental yield of at least 6 per cent for the first three years (or 5 per cent if you opt to use your property yourself for up to four weeks a year). Prices range from £60,000 to £150,000.

But, as chief executive Simon Hill explains, this is not an opportunity for novice buy-to-let investors. "At the moment the property scene is still pretty backward, both in price terms and as far as the market infrastructure is concerned," he says.

For example, it's not easy to arrange a mortgage for properties. "We have arrangements with two local banks, and have also persuaded Royal Bank of Scotland to create a product for UK buyers in Croatia, but it requires a minimum 30 per cent deposit," says Hill. "To be honest, though, we expect many buyers at Deep Blue will come with cash."

Land ownership is another challenge awaiting the unwary buyer. A property may well have been in the same family for generations, so that several different branches of the family have a stake in it and all must sign up to the sale. However, Keppler stresses that Croatiansun will do all that work before marketing any property. "Anything we sell is offered with a clean title and ready to go," he says.

Furthermore there are few estate agents on the ground catering for international buyers and the industry is entirely unregulated, though from July estate agents will have to be registered with Croatia's Chamber of Commerce.

Croatia is set to join the EU in 2007, and Simon Hill expects that will help speed the process of modernisation, encouraging system computerisation and the introduction of more accessible mortgages. But it will also narrow Croatia's price advantages over Spain, Portugal and France.

DETAILS

Buying in Croatia: You can buy as a private individual, but this involves finding a property you want and then obtaining permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which can take up to a year.

Most people buy first and then try getting approval (given to 95-98 per cent of applicants) The alternative is to set up a Croatian company, which can take a month and a half. There’s no need for government permission if you take this route, but there are various other legal and financial considerations and you need a good lawyer either way.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1083180454630
 

Aussies win yachting world title in Croatia

Australia's Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page have won the men's title in the 470 class at the yachting World Championships in Croatia.
The pair who are both from New South Wales, finished strongly in the final three races against the 100-boat fleet, to take out the title.
Wilmot and Page will be making their Olympic debut in Athens and their world championship will act as the perfect build-up for the yachting program.
Australia's yachting gold medallists from Sydney, Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell, finished fourth overall in the womens' 470 class.

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/s1109969.htm
 

To: Mieczyslaw Boduszynski, Woodrow Wilson Institute

Nenad:
Inspired by our dear friend Hilda, I had to give this guy a piece of my mind. Keep up the good work, prijatelju.

Peter Curko

May 14, 2004

To: Mieczyslaw Boduszynski, Woodrow Wilson Institute

Dear Sir:

It seems like only yesterday that Croatians in New York City were demonstrating at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, waving their flags and hoping the world would see what was going on in their country. Among the flags and signs, one could see Lithuanian, Polish, and Latvian flags as well, as Croatia's cause rightfully seemed to strike a sympathetic chord with those people who had seen oppression at the hands of their Russian neighbors. Surely, we thought, this will galvanize public opinion in our favor, and this historic injustice will end. Well, we all know it did not. What you, sir, are doing, only perpetuates this injustice.

Mieczyslaw (do you have a convenient nickname, by the way? How about Mike?), my good man, I think it was your turn to lecture, and you were at a loss for material, so you just picked the safest route: collectivization of guilt. That has been the popular way of dealing with the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Safe, clean, no dirty hands, no criticism, no worries. I can understand why the Polish "Solidarnosc" movement, or the Baltic struggle for freedom for that matter, is always viewed as some historic, heroic, fundamentally "right" battle for national identity. I cannot, though, understand why the same description does not apply to Croatia's struggle.

Croatia is free now, no longer subject to Serb overlordship. We have tried to appease the farcical tribunal known as the Hague/IWCT in every way, shape, and form. The newly elected Ivo Sanader has been about as different from the old-line HDZ as Polish kielbasa is from Indian curried chicken. And what, mind you, have the Serbs been doing in the meantime? Well, how does giving a sizeable chunk of the popular vote to Vojislav Seselj grab you? If there was a "Top 20" list put together of notorious, murderous men to ever hold public office, this man would safely assume his position on that list. Has Serb leadership cooperated with the IWCT? Hardly. Recently, a New York Times article described a near-miss in efforts to collar Radovan Karadzic by noting that the forces assigned with the task of capturing him was made up mostly of Serb policemen. Gee, I can't for the life of me figure out how he wiggled his way out of that one.

Let me sum up in one sentence what your lecture would take an hour to say: Croatia is moving forward, and Serbia is moving decidedly backward. You, sir, would be better off lecturing on more accurate and interesting topics like Estonia's projected 50% loss in population by the year 2050, or maybe even something regarding your institute's namesake, and how his fellow bumbling statesmen cobbled together a ruinous blueprint for Europe that still has tragic implications.

Sincerely,
Peter Curko

Zelco (Yaakov) Marvizi was born 25 years ago

The following article appeared in the Israeli daily H'aaretz concerning Zelco (Zeljko) Marvizi, who was half Croatian. He was one of 6 Israeli soldiers killed earlier this week in the Gaza Strip. John Kraljic

Last update - 01:51 12/05/2004
His big dream was to join an elite unit
By Eli Ashkenazi

Zelco (Yaakov) Marvizi was born 25 years ago on an island in the Adriatic Sea to a Jewish-Serbian mother and a Christian-Croatian father.

When he was 10, his father died and Zelco, his mother, and sister, moved to Novisad in Serbia. After high school, Zelco studied physical education at Novisad University and later joined the Serbian army.

At age 23, he came to Israel, where he joined the army and moved to Kibbutz Geva. There he met his "adoptive parents," Zeev and Vered Klein.

"Zelco had a lot of ambition," said Zeev Klein. He tried out for all the elite units but was not accepted, and he couldn't understand why." Eventually, Zelco was sent to medics' training, which was difficult for him because of his limited Hebrew. However, he finished with the help of friends.

Zelco didn't give up on his dream of joining an elite unit. Tzvika Levi, the kibbutz movement's "father" of soldiers without families in Israel, spoke to the commander of the Givati Brigade about him and the latter authorized Zelco to join the engineering unit.

Levi said Zelco called him last Tuesday and said: "Tzvika, if something happens to me, tell my girlfriend Maayan that I want to be buried in Jerusalem, the holy city. And if not in Jerusalem, then I want to be buried in Kibbutz Geva."

w w w . h a a r e t z d a i l y . c o m
 

Archaeologists in Croatia trade shovels for georadar

Sun May 16, 2004

SINJ, Croatia (AFP) - In search of clues they believe could cast light on 10,000 years of Balkans history, archaeologists working in a key wetland along the Cetina river in southern Croatia have modernized their approach, switching shovels for a georadar.

Children ran in awe around the cart with the georadar as it circled around a village playground pulled by a small four-wheeler. Several meters (feet) beneath the concrete the radar found remains of a medieval church.
"This is the first time that we have access to such sophisticated peace of equipment. It will revolutionize how we can do this sort of work, as we can now do in days what used to take us months before," Vincent Gaffney, director of the University of Birmingham Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, told AFP. The institute is taking part in the archaeological study of the Cetina river valley.
Three-dimensional maps showing seven meters of depth of the surveyed area, produced by radar technology, are used in planning future excavations set to begin next year. While having other applications, such as in geotechnical surveys prior to construction, the georadar is being used in Cetina river valley for the first time by archaeologists in a large-scale research.
As part of preparations that started three years ago it was used to make a transect of the complete length of the valley of some six kilometers (3.5 miles).
"Archaeologists have conducted excavations here in the past 200 years but this is the first time that the valley is being researched systematically," said Ante Milosevic, head of the Museum of Croatian archaeological monuments.
Due to its strategic position, the Cetina river valley was for centuries a major crossroads linking western Europe with Asia, as well as a border area between the Romans and Slavic Croatian tribes, and later Ottoman and Venetian empires.
"This area has the greatest density of findings covering all periods from neolithic onward in the whole of Dalmatia," he said in a reference to Croatia's southern Adriatic region. "It is undoubtably archaeologically the most important area of the western Balkans and all our findings here will provide a good basis for the future surveys." All the artefacts found so far, including dozens of bronze age swords and some 30 Greco-Illyrian helmets, were exceptionally well preserved in the waterlogged area. Archaeologists also found timbers from the series of river-dwelling communities which, unlike in the rest of Europe, continued in Croatia until the 18th century. "This small river in Dalmatia appears almost as important as big European rivers like the Rhine or the Thames with the remarkable set of metalwork comparable to that from those rivers," Gaffney said.
The river appears to have had a spiritual meaning for people of bronze age Cetina culture, one of the first metal using groups spreading from Croatia to Albania. "In this environment water was very important. There are burrows around associated with Cetina culture indicating that the river was probably a source of ritual and spiritual experience," Gaffney said. A large number of swords found appear to have been deliberately thrown into river as part of a ritual. But archaeologists complain that the state should do more to protect the area from looters. So far, according to Milosevic, one third of the findings have been stolen from archaeological sites, ending up in private collections. The valley could also provide archaeologists with the story of life here since neolithic times as the organic material preserved in the wetland also holds a complete environmental record for the region for up to 10,000 years.
"This valley can tell us about the whole environment of the Baklans because it is a time capsule with pollen cores, snails and beatles," Gaffney said.
"Organic material can tell us not just what people did, but which conditions they lived in, what sort of food they ate, diseases they had ..."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040516/sc_afp/croatia_archaeology_040516221022
 

The Urban Assemble High School for Media Studies
has 30 openings for 9th graders
 

FYI

The Urban Assemble High School for Media Studies has 30 openings
for 9th graders for the new school year starting this September.
Working with Children's Pressline, these students will be
trained by media professionals and will produce print stories
and documentaries with national distribution.

If you know 8th graders who can be reached, turned around, or
motivated by being given a voice in the media, please contact
Children's Pressline at cpl@cplmedia.org  or speak to Mike
Schreibman.(212) 760-2772.

Blue Jay Way

Hi Everyone,
Just letting you know that my latest watercolors are now in the flatfiles at Pierogi gallery in Brooklyn. If you're in the area check them out.
The gallery is located at 177 N. 9th St., Brooklyn (Williamsburg area). For those of you who are interested in buying a painting, they are still very reasonably priced.

Thanks for your interest.
Marilyn Cvitanic