As we reported recently, the Inter-American Investment Corporation will offer Croatian companies a chance to operate on the Latin American market.

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 14th of January, 2019, about a year ago, the Croatian Government approved the signing of a contract for Croatia's entrance into the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), which Croatia's ambassador to the USA, Pjer Šimunovi?, signed back in July 2018 over in Washington, and now, through a parliamentary procedure, the law which this contract confirms has been set in stone.

For Croatian entrepreneurs and Croatian companies, this is a significantly important move because it opens up far more new opportunities in the markets of Latin America and the Caribbean. IIC is a multilateral organisation, part of the Inter-American Bank for Development (IID) group, which finances the private sector and financial institutions in the countries of this region, and Croatia's membership was gained on the basis of succession. There are 48 countries in the IID, of which 26 are Latin-American.

In the IID capital of a massive 170 billion dollars, the United States alone has the highest individual share of 30 percent, while Croatia holds 0.05 percent. Loans, guarantees and other forms of financing can only be used by entrepreneurs from the above mentioned 26 countries, but for Croatian companies, the possibility of participation in tenders for the projects financed by the IID remains very much open. From past practice (IID has existed since 1959 and is the oldest regional development bank) the organisation invests around 11 billion dollars annually into its various projects, and the most common sectors to see investment are infrastructural projects, financial markets, as well as energy and water management.

In procurement procedures for corporate-donor companies such as those from Croatia, business opportunities are mostly open to Croatian companies who deal mainly with infrastructure-related businesses, as well as for consultants, and banks from all member states. Along with the Croatian Ministry of Finance, which is charge of communication with IID and IIC, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) will obtain an important role, which will, along with HBOR, inform Croatian companies and entrepreneurs about these welcome new possibilities.

From the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, they state that they had organised education for Croatian companies for several years now, the main goal of which was to get better acquainted with this channel for non-traditional Latin American markets, and after the agreement is signed, Croatian companies and entrepreneurs will be more prepared to take advantage of these opportunities as a more active approach to preparations will take place.

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