Croatia today marks its 20th anniversary of membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which it joined on 30 November 2000 as the 140th member, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said on Monday.

Accession to the WTO was the foundation for the integration of Croatia’s economy with the European and global market, the ministry said in a press release.

Croatia’s WTO membership marked a period of further liberalisation, boosting exports and participation in world trade as a factor of development.

That was the first step towards European and regional economic integration and membership of the European Union, the ministry said.

Today the multilateral trade system is faced with many challenges and the current situation requires all WTO members to invest additional effort to find new ways to achieve a more stable trade environment based on regulations, the press release added.

Croatia is confident that the WTO can provide answers for today’s key challenges and issues so that it can modernise and facilitate doing business in the 21st century, the ministry said.

Croatia is a strong and dedicated supporter of the multilateral system and sees the WTO as a necessary and valuable partner, it said.