Economic integration of Croatia into the European Union and Georgia

Abstract

Applying to the international experience with the purpose to develop national economy is of great importance in modern times. Croatia is the last, 28th member state of the European Union. The paper deals with the peculiarities of social and economic development of Croatia. Croatia is one of the rapidly developing and rich in resources countries in Europe, which is actively seeking further integration into global economy. The present paper studies a number of pressing issues of social and economic development of Croatia and provides suggestions what can be considered in Georgian reality. Croatia has a unique geographical location and is a member of the European Union, the United Nations Organization, the Council of Europe, the NATO, the World Trade Organization and many other international organizations. Tourism is considered one of the key directions of Croatia’s development. The contribution of tourism to the country’s GDP is about 20%, which is quite high compared with the contribution of tourism to the GDP of the EU, which amounts to 10%. According to the National Statistics Office of Georgia, contribution of tourism to total output of the country's economy is 7.3%. It is desirable to cooperate with Croatia in tourism sector. Export volume of Croatian goods exceeds the volume of Georgian export by 5 times. Export of Croatian goods amounted to USD 13.7 billion in 2017 (to compare with, export of Georgian goods amounted to USD 2.7 billion in 2017 and export without re-export totaled to USD 2 billion), while import of goods amounted to USD 21.3 billion. First NATO, then the EU. There is no direct relation between these two international organizations but before the EU membership Croatia joined NATO on April 1, 2009. Investment and Competitiveness Agency. Croatia is actively involved in globalization and integration processes. The country is actively trying to attract FDI and cares to improve the competitiveness of its economy. There is an Investment and Competitiveness Agency in Croatia. In our opinion, introduction of this experience in Georgia and caring for the improvement of the competitiveness of the country’s economy is very important. Croatia has the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. From our point of view, it is possible to combine the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of European Integration. Similar practice exists in many European countries. To conclude, EU membership is profitable for Croatia. It is desirable to study and use the Croatian experiences for socio-economic development of Georgia. Croatia continues the country's economic development successfully. One of the subsequent goals of the country is to join the Schengen zone.