The visa regime and the non-existence of an agreement on dual taxation is preventing more intense cooperation between Croatia and the USA, it was heard on Monday at a signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between the Association of Croatian-American Professionals (ACAP) and the Croatian Exporters (HIZ) association.

The USA could mean a lot more to Croatia in the economic field, however, considering the potential of the two countries, these relations are not as good as we would like them to be, HIZ president Darinko Bago said.

He believes that relations are a lot stronger in some other segments than they are in the economy and finance, underscoring that there are two main reasons for this: the non-existence of a dual taxation agreement and the fact that Croatian citizens require a visa to go to the USA.

Today’s agreement provides exporters with yet one more partner to lobby for those problems to be resolved sooner, Bago said.

ACAP’s vice president and head of a task force within that organisation working on avoiding dual taxation, Tomislav Krmek, said that ACAP is involved in several activities for an agreement to be signed.

“We are aware that Croatia is the only EU member state that still does not have such an agreement. That presents a big problem to a lot of people, primarily individuals and SMEs who do business between Croatia and the USA, who earn their income in one country and want to return it to their own country,” Krmek said.

He said that the task force has prepared a draft dual taxation agreement and a memorandum explaining all the details and steps concerning that agreement, adding that the association has informed several relevant institutions of the arguments in favour of the agreement.

ACAP president Darko Don Markusic said that the association has identified several possibilities for further cooperation with HIZ, emphasising that ACAP intend to connect Croatian-American professionals with Croatian professionals throughout the world.

ACAP was founded in Washington in 2014. It has more than 1,000 members and 15 branches throughout the USA and one in Zagreb. Its members represent all facets of the international professional community, such as scientists, doctors, engineers, attorneys, artists, journalists, business executives, accountants, etc.

Markusic announced a conference that will be held in Cleveland in September where the Zagreb branch will present a panel discussion on business cooperation with Croatian war veterans.