CROATIA’S ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY NEEDS LONG–TERM STRATEGY AS CONSTRUCTIVE AXIS FOR FUTURE REFORMS

The article aims to examine how policies and measures taken by the Government, The President and the Parliament influence the country’s economic diplomacy activities, and its relevance in Croatia’s foreign policy. Firstly, the paper analyses the economic diplomacy features, main actors, and identifies factors that have power to affect its capacities to build a positive image of Croatia as a reliable partner in trade, and attract investments. The paper sheds a new light on the nature of Croatia’s diplomacy reforms (1991 – 2013) showing existence of a persistent practice of every Croatia’s government to radically change organizational structure of economic diplomacy, and start from the beginning even in periods when it was effectively organized, well equipped with human resources, and based on interests of Croat fi rms. The main consequence of that approach is a great deficiency of a continuity what decreases power of Croatia’s economic diplomacy to support the state’s economic prosperity. The article recommends improvement of Croatia’s economic diplomacy in line with a holistic and interdisciplinary approach aimed to increase its role in pursuing the country’s economic interests in international relations taking into account a necessity of building its continuity.