On the 14th and 15th of September 2011, representatives from AZRA (Varazdin County Development Agency) participated in the final conference for the benchmarking component of the project “Development of Investment Climate.” This project is a part of the Advanced Investment Certification Programme for Regions (AICPR), which has been jointly implemented by MELE (the Croatian Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship) and 4 other foreign consultant groups. The purpose of AICPR is to improve the skills and knowledge of the employees of regional development agencies and Croatian county governments in order to for them to better promote their regions as foreign investment destinations. At the conference, there were participants from 11 different Croatian counties. The purpose of the benchmarking component was to monitor and compare the performance of Croatian development agencies with agencies in neighbouring countries. Due to its numerous successes and results over the past 5 years, AZRA was invited by MELE to present at the conference as a Croatian best practice example in regional development.

Josip Borak, the director of AZRA, presented the agency’s best practices in front of the conference participants. Borak stated the main goals of the agency, and described the successes and results of the agency since its establishment in 2005. He emphasized that AZRA’s employees are its greatest resource. According to Borak, the dedication and commitment of employees has led to the agency’s success. Concerning the AICPR project, he explained that AZRA had good results (i.e. being considered the best regional development agency in the project) because employees and managers invested the time and effort into activities to make sure all tasks were completed properly and before deadlines.

According to the conference organizers (MELE and the foreign consultants working on the project), Varazdin County and AZRA have already made significant progress in addressing serious challenges in attracting foreign investment to Croatia. As a result of this project, AZRA has enhanced its ability to attract and assist investors establish operations in the Varazdin County region. As well, the agency has made significant steps in making Varazdin County an internationally renowned region in foreign investment attraction.