Representatives of around 60 Croatian and 150 Ukrainian companies gathered at the Ukrainian-Croatian Business Forum, held as part of a two-day state visit of the Croatian Government to Kyiv and Lviv.
Present at the Forum, organised by the Croatian Chamber of Economy (CCE) and the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and representatives of numerous Croatian companies from various sectors, including Mislav Vučić, CEO of JGL, and Irina Karakai, director of JGL Ukraine.
Ukraine is one of JGL’s most important markets, with an 8% share of the total B2C sales of JGL Pharma and market sales of EUR 13 million. JGL’s representative office in Kyiv employs 60 people. Its key levers of business and growth are the brands Aqua Maris, Meralys and Vizol S, and products from the ophthalmology and dermatology segments.
Trade in goods between Croatia and Ukraine increased by as much as 25% in 2020, with the positive trend continuing in the first seven months of 2021, with a growth rate of 5.2%. Such a strong upswing despite the pandemic clearly demonstrates the great potential for economic cooperation between the two countries.
“Representatives from all key economic sectors are with us here today. This, combined with the continued growth of trade in goods, confirms how important the Ukrainian market is for Croatian companies,” said CCE President Luka Burilović in his opening speech, adding that pharmaceutical companies are responsible for 30% of Croatian exports to Ukraine.