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Picturesque town trumps neighbouring capital
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Picturesque town trumps neighbouring capital
By Kester Eddy
Published: November 5 2008 02:00 | Last updated: November 5 2008 02:00
Varazdin is the "baroque gem of north-west Croatia" writes the tourist brochure. It is hard to believe when driving off the motorway, past a blur of industrial estates, filling stations and hypermarkets that both serve and employ Varadin's 42,000 residents.
But the old town is up to the hype; a delightful collection of winding streets, squares and a castle.
Varazdin has other surprises, not least the mayor. Looking like the lead in a biblical epic, Ivan Cehok is wont to cause protocolic confusion when on "away" visits.
Drazen Dretar, spokesperson for the town, says: "Other officials think that I'm the mayor, in my suit, and greet me until I put them right."
But though he brought Bob Dylan to the town last June, Mr Cehok - a former professor of philosophy - is no laid-back hippie. Under his seven-year leadership, Varazdin has attracted dozens of investors and created thousands of jobs. "At the beginning of 2000 we - politicians, business managers, academics, chambers - all got together. We didn't wait for the state. We founded a 'free' [industrial] zone and within four years had attracted 10 factories, with domestic and foreign investors," he says.
Spurred by the initial success, the town moved to create a second zone, along with a technical park and an incubator facilities for start-up companies. The result of this broad drive is about 4,500 new jobs.
"We now have only 4.5 per cent unemployment, the lowest in this part of Europe. In fact, we are suffering from a shortage of workers in sectors such as construction," says Mayor Cehok.
Meanwhile, traditional industries, notably food and textiles, have been restructuring. Varteks, a vertically-integrated textile and fashion company that employed 10,000 in the 1980s, has done a remarkable job in battling both foreign competition and the strong domestic currency.
Now with 3,300 workers, Varteks is one of the largest employers in Croatia, producing its own lines as well as clothing for international brands such as Versace and Hugo Boss.
"You can make T-shirts in China, but for suits, you need special qualities. Any Versace suit bought in New York is made here," says Nikolina Dezmaric, communications head for Varteks.
In spite of the kuna's inflexibility, Varteks exports almost half of its production, including sales to Germany, Italy and the UK, and even plans to pioneer the Indian market.
In the midst of this varied development, Varazdin has also stolen a coup on Zagreb by producing the largest domestic financial group. Fima - with activities ranging from factoring to banking - is active within much of former Yugoslavia, and is now entering Ukraine. With 500 employees in total (200 in Varazdin), Fima manages assets of about €500m and is ranked in the top three brokerages on the Zagreb stock exchange equities' section. "Today we have operations in six countries, and branch offices in Brussels and New York. We are the only financial group in Croatia which has developed in this way," says Milan Horvat, Fima president.
Mr Cehok says that the "very unusual" political consensus helped Varazdin's development, and that it is "historically oriented towards middle Europe" - hinting at a Germanic work ethic. "I am also an MP and that helps me win money from the very centralised state," he says.
Izvor: Financial Times - Picturesque town trumps neighbouring capital
U Varazdinu stopa nezaposlenosti = 4.5%.
Ne treba biti neposten i reci da se u Osijeku stopa povecava. Na svu srecu, nakon 15 godina od rata i u Osijeku se stopa nezaposlenosti smanjuje. Odlaskom nezaposlenih u Zagreb.