Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas - The editor and big chief of The Dubrovnik Times. Born in the UK he has been living and working in Dubrovnik since 1998, yes he is one of the rare “old hands.” A unique insight into both British and Croatian life and culture, Mark is often known as just “Englez” or Englishman. He is a traveller, a current affairs freak and a huge AFC Wimbledon fan.

Email: mark.thomas@dubrovnik-times.com

Position – Personal Assistant

Location – Zagreb

Time period – 25th February to 27th February 2019

Description - I am a British businessman doing business across the region on this occasion in Zagreb. I would appreciate the assistance of a business assistant for a forthcoming trip to Zagreb from Monday 25th Feb until 27th Feb. Requirements are female, 25 -45, good English language skills, good IT and keyboard skills, full driving licence or good knowledge of public transport system, presentable appearance (smartly dressed).

Duties – assisting in getting around the city between British Embassy and various government agencies and buildings. Note taking at meetings, typing reports, solving IT hitches. A knowledge of MUP and MOD an advantage.

Payment - Around 5 hours per day 15 Euro per hour plus lunch

How to apply - Please apply by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

More details - You will find details of my company here www.pimento-soe.co.uk

Croatia, along with Hungary, is among the ten countries with the highest cancer mortality rate in the European Union, states a project by the Washington University.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on policy challenges and strategies against women’s cancers and related comorbidities, calling for stronger engagement in the fight against women's illnesses and for developing an EU-level strategy for equal access to health services for all women. "One in three Europeans develop some form of cancer during their life. About 600,000 women die each year as a result of cancer and 90,000 women die of breast cancer," said Italian MEP Daniela Aiuto.

She added that as many as 80 percent of women could survive breast cancer if it was diagnosed on time.

The resolution that the Parliament adopted recommends that a strategy is based on "collecting accurate and comprehensive cancer incidence/survival data disaggregated by sex in order to ensure that specific actions are targeted at cancer patients, while undertaking research, initiating preventive action against particular types of cancer, and providing access to accurate information, screening, diagnosis, monitoring, treatment and post-therapy support in order to guarantee medical healthcare."

The Croatian President opened a business forum with the country’s largest trading partner yesterday. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic opened the German-Croatian business forum in Berlin yesterday and was optimistic that German investment would continue to flow and in fact increase in Croatia.

"Economic relations between Germany and Croatia are very good, but there is a lot of room for improvement. This in particular refers to Croatian exports to the German market," commented the Croatian President.

And it isn’t only with the German market that Croatian exports are struggling, although with such an important partner the trade gap should be considerably narrower. However, it could be argued that the German companies have a massive advantage over their Croatian counterparts as they don’t have to deal with excessive taxes, corruption and overburdening levels of government.

The Croatian President tried to reassure businessmen that reforms were coming soon, most notably to the judicial and public administration. However, as the real power in Croatia lies in the hands of the Prime Minister and not the President these could just be seen as reassurances rather than confirmations of policies. "In this year alone, we will cancel or simplify several hundred administrative procedures and obligations, which will save businesses a lot of money and facilitate doing business," concluded the President.

German businessmen were quick to point out that the investment climate in Croatia needs changing if they want to attract larger investment. "We make up 99 percent of all companies in Germany, but we have almost no presence in Croatia. Something needs to change about that," said Mario Ohoven from the German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses.

Germany is Croatia’s top trading partner, with the volume of their bilateral trade in 2017 standing at €5.2 billion, unfortunately the majority of this trade is flowing from Germany into Croatia.

 

One of the last state owned hotel chains in Dubrovnik has finally found a buyer and yesterday contracts were signed. The Minister of State Property, Goran Marić, and the Managing Director of PND Strategy Ltd, Matea Mateković, signed a contract on the sale and transfer of shares from the Hotel Maestral group.

The hotel chain, Hotels Maestral, is the last major hotel resort in Croatia in the majority state ownership, and for the past five years they have operated with a net profit. This hotel chain has been offered for sale numerous times and had finally found a new owner. Hotels Maestral consists of five hotels in the Bay of Lapad in prime position and although the hotels have been recording a profit they are all in need of investment.

PND Strategy have just spent 153.5 million Kuna on just over 60 percent of the shares, making them the majority shareholder and new owners of the Dubrovnik hotel chain.

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At the signing of the contract, Minister Marić commented that "This is a great success, after eight unsuccessful bidding and ninth rounds, the final process has been successfully completed. The CERP Governing Council made the decision to accept the most favourable bid and ended the privatization of the last hotel complex in the Republic of Croatia. We expect the buyer to come up with investment plans and raise them to the highest level of hotel categorization as soon as possible because it is unacceptable for Dubrovnik to have one or two star hotels."

And there can be no doubt that these five Dubrovnik hotels, although in prime seafront locations, are in serious need of investment. However, as we have seen hundreds of times in the past when a publically owned company falls into private hands the aftereffects take years to recover from. State owned companies in Croatia generally suffer from massive overemployment, lack of modern technology and outdated working practises. The arrival of a private investor, actually looking to make money from his investment, normally leads to redundancies and reorganisation.

The Managing Director for PND Strategy Ltd, Matea Mateković, thanked Minister Marić for his co-operation and added: "Our plans are to start with the realization of the project as soon as possible, as we feel that hotels Maestral deserve to have a much better position than they have at this time. We will take business documentation as soon as possible and embark on the preparation of the hotel for the upcoming tourist season."

It’s no secret that Dubrovnik is one of the most photogenic and videogenic destinations in the world. But where are the best spots to marvel at the beauty of the pearl of the Adriatic? Most people would say just about anywhere, and to a certain extent they would be right, but there are some extra special places that give you a real feel of the terracotta beauty of Dubrovnik.

At The Dubrovnik Times we have selected our top five spots to enjoy the vistas over the ancient Old City. They are in no particular order but you have the chance to vote for your favourite view, just click on the arrow and your video will climb the list. And yes, we realise that choosing from five stunning videos isn’t easy when they are all just as glorious as each other.

 

The most well-known coffee shop chain in the world, Starbucks, could soon be opening their first ever outlet in Croatia. According to a report in novac.hr there are strong rumours that Starbucks could open their first Croatian café in Zagreb.

It is believed that the Seattle based coffee chain have plans, through their franchise owner in the region, to open a café in the centre of the Croatian capital in the popular Cvjetni Square shopping centre.

Starbucks will certainly open a café in the region shortly, but in the Serbian capital Belgrade, but it looks like they are planning to expand to the Croatian capital as well. According to the report a suitable space has opened up in the busy shopping centre after another restaurant closed. Speaking to the newspaper a representative for the shopping centre stated that they are currently talking with some major foreign gastronomic brand, and that they have a plan to “bring something that we do not yet have, something different.”

 

Although the “coffee to go” culture is a late developer with most Croatians, who generally prefer to sit and chat over their caffeine fix, the custom to drink and walk is slowly but surely gaining popularity, especially with the younger generations. In the past Costa Coffee, the British based coffee chain, had opened three cafes in Croatia in 2008, but quickly closed them due to a lack of interest. Starbucks, or at least the franchise owners, clearly consider that over ten years later the culture of coffee drinking has changed, with more cafes as well as petrol stations and newsagents now offering coffee to go, and that the location in the centre of Zagreb will prove successful. And in the capital city, especially in this busy shopping centre, the Seattle coffee giant certainly has more chance to succeed than in the tourist destinations along the Adriatic coastline.

The prestigious UK newspaper The Telegraph has published a list of their top ten seaside towns in Croatia and both Dubrovnik and Cavtat feature.

The article, entitled “Croatia's 10 most beautiful seaside towns,” features The Telegraph’s choice of the leading coastal destinations in Croatia. The top of the list is Rovinj in Istria which The Telegraph describes as “Venetian-era facades in yellow ochre, burnt sienna and terracotta red curve around a deep horse-shoe harbour, backed by a hilltop church with an elegant 17th-century bell-tower.”

The list of the top seaside town also features Mali Lošinj on the island of Lošinj, Rab and Zadar. And in night position is Dubrovnik and tenth the picturesque coastal town of Cavtat. In fact, Cavtat is having a great start to the year, finishing on the top ten best European destinations for 2019 in European Best Destinations awards. And The Telegraph also is keen to point out the values of Cavtat stating “The pace of life is slower here, with fewer crowds – dine at an open-air restaurant on the palm-lined seafront promenade, check out 19th-century oil paintings by Vlaho Bukovac in his former home, and see the elegant 1920s Račić Mausoleum, decorated with art nouveaux carvings by sculptor Ivan Meštrović.”

Read the full article here

 

In the upcoming European Parliament elections in May the ruling Croatian political party, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) is projected to win 6 of the 12 seats on offer to Croatian MEPs.

In a poll carried out by the European parliament HDZ looks out course to win six seats whilst the other six MEP seats will be divided between the other opposition political parties. The poll predicts that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) will win 3 seats, the conservative party Most one seat and the populist party Zivi Zid one seat.

According to the poll, which involved 1,300 Croatian voters, HDZ won 32.1 percent of votes, SDP almost 18 percent, Zivi Zid 12.3 percent and Most 7.4 percent.

If this prediction comes true then the leading political party would have the same amount of European Parliament seats, but the other six would be shared around differently, with a rise from Most and Zivi Zid, who both don’t have an MEP at the moment.

The number of MEPs that Croatia has increased from 11 to 12 thanks to the UK leaving the European Union and opening up extra seats for other nations.

The Voice of Dubrovnik

THE VOICE OF DUBROVNIK


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