Croatian Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development, Božidar Kalmeta  stated last week in Split, Croatia , during the introduction of the new sign “Croatian Island Product”, that goal of presenting this new symbol is to promote and protect original products from our islands, to position those products on the domestic as well as on the foreign market and to promote Croatian islands in general.

On the occasion, 14 manufacturers from Croatia received the right to mark 22 of their island products with that new symbol and the minister pointed out that this symbol was meant to be a guarantee for originality and quality of the selected articles as well and for the exclusivity of the one who produces them.

The minister further underlined the fact that another important goal of the whole project was to stimulate the development of ecological products of high quality, adding that  every fifth tourist visiting the country was spending his/her holiday on one of Croatia’s 1244 islands.

During the last year, 1.3 billion Kuna were invested into Croatian islands and during the last four years the development of those islands was supported with the total amount of 5 billion Kuna, stated the minister.

He also talked about a whole range of measures created for the enhancement of life conditions on islands which included a numerous new ferry lines, night lines, a better connection between the mainland and the islands, the renovation of the fleet of private ship operators, 54 reconstructed ports and 45 newly built objects of social infrastructure on islands.

In the end he mentioned other programs introduced to stimulate the opening of new job opportunities on islands, investments in infrastructure, and other projects aiming to preserve islands and to secure their sustainable development.