Counties

The 20 Counties participating in the project "Development of Investment Climate", will learn both the science and the art of investment promotion, through the training, mentoring and practical work of the ICPR programmes.

The Republic of Croatia consists of:

  • 20 counties
  • 122 towns
  • 426 municipalities
  • and the City of Zagreb which has a special status of City and County

The County is a unit of regional self-government according to the Regulation Book on the Register of Territorial Units (NN, No. 37/08). The territory of a county results from historical, transportation and economic influences. It represents a natural, self-government entity and, as a rule, it comprises a number of towns and municipalities. The borders of a county are determined by the borders of its peripheral municipalities and towns.

The County is  autonomous in decision making in relation to issues of local (regional) significance. These include issues related to education, health care, planning and development of training networks, social and cultural institutions, economic development, traffic and transport infrastructure, maintenance of public roads, spatial and urban planning, issuing construction and location permits, other acts related to construction and implementation of provisions of spatial planning documents for the county area, outside of large towns.

The Practice of Investment Promotion

"The practice of investment promotion, as those experienced in the field can attest, is at once a science and an art.

As a science, it requires a systematic, empirical approach to analyzing and articulating a location’s strengths; to evaluating, finding and attracting investors; and then to monitoring progress against quantitative goals. (...)

Without the creativity and imagination required to assemble an operation, communicate a compelling promotional message, adapt to market dynamics, manage within limited and mercurial budgets, engage support among multiple constituencies and envision a prescient plan and development outcome, the science of investment promotion is merely a theoretical exercise.

The reality in today’s globally competitive environment is that the effective investment promotion agency (IPA), through a unique interplay of both types of organizational strengths, is able to both create and convey competitive advantage in its efforts to attract foreign direct investment (FDI)."

Source: Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS) for the World Bank