Zagreb, 27 September, 2011. Together with EU partners - Lithuania and Hungary, Croatia begins to implement the EU Twinning project for Croatia titled - „Enhancement of Capacity for Effective Management of EU Cohesion Policy Funds”. The Project’s objectives were discussed today at the Project’s Opening Ceremony, which was attended by the representatives of the state partners - Mr. HRVOJE DOLENEC, State Secretary, Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds and Ms. IVANA MALETIĆ, State Secretary, Ministry of Finance, together with Mr. RICHARD MASA, Head of Operations Section in the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Croatia and other related parties: Mr. GÁBOR IVÁN, Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to the Republic of Croatia, Mr. ALOYZAS VITKAUSKAS, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as other project experts delegated by the involved EU Member States.

As Croatia prepares to join the EU in 2013, it has received financial support from the EU in a form of a twinning project. The main goal of the project is to increase capacity for overall coordination of the implementation of Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund (SCF) in Croatia, technically correct and effective financial management of funds, systematic and effective monitoring of SCF programmes. Thus, it aims to contribute to effective implementation and management of the EU funds in Croatia, in line with the EU requirements.

Croatia has selected Member State partners Lithuania and Hungary to implement this project. Experts from the Ministry of Finance and the Central Project Management Agency of the Republic of Lithuania supported by the experts from the National Development Agency of the Republic of Hungary will undertake multiple missions in order to successfully implement the tasks foreseen by the project, and to achieve the mandated results. These results will be achieved together with the Croatian colleagues from Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia.

The Twinning project is being implemented until 1st September 2013. The project’s budget is 2 million EUR, of which 95 per cent is paid by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), and 5 per cent is paid through national co-financing.

Date and time:    27 September 2011, 10:30 a.m.   
Place:    Mimara museum, Rooseveltov trg 5, Zagreb
For more information:    Ms. Ivana Kristić Buntić, Chief of the Cabinet; Central Office for Development Strategy and Coordination of EU Funds; Radnička cesta 80/V, Zagreb, Croatia; Phone: +385 1 4569 205; E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it