A joint project by the Ministry for EU Funds and the European Investment Bank (EIB), designed to help develop investment platforms for smart cities and islands, was presented in Dubrovnik on Thursday.

The agreement on this programme was signed in September, and it stipulates that as of November, the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) will help in the process of establishing the first investment platforms in Croatia designed to streamline investments in the country’s smart cities and islands, by encouraging both private and public investors.

The Minister for EU Funds, Gabrijela Zalac, described the project as challenging, calling for more private investments to make these platforms eventually benefit the national economy.

Finance Minister, Zdravko Maric, said that Croatia, as one of the stakeholders in the EIB, always had great expectations of various cooperation forms, proved by the fact it has so far facilitated the implementation of projects worth €5.4 billion.

EIB Vice-President, Vazil Hudak, said that 34 such investment platforms had been developed across Europe, attracting more than €40 billion in fresh investments.

“For EIB, investing in smart cities and regions is a way to respond efficiently to our social and territorial cohesion mandate by supporting the upgrade of local economies in a quickly evolving digital world,” Hudak said at the press briefing.

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