Organized by the Faculty of Economics & Business – Zagreb and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a lecture and discussion with students on „Ensuring fair market conditions and tackling corruption in Croatia“ was held on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at the Library and Documentation Centre.
In 2019, with the financial support from Siemens, the OECD launched the "Fair Market Conditions for Competitiveness in the Adriatic Region" project, which initially included Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia as pilot countries and later expanded beyond the scope of the Adriatic region to include Algeria, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Uzbekistan. By bringing together government officials, business representatives, civil society, and academia, the project aims to address country-specific challenges through collective action and international best practice.
The Faculty of Economics & Business – Zagreb participates in the above project as a member of a community that aims to improve integrity and achieve fair conditions for all market participants through collective action (Collective Action Community). In order to raise awareness of the importance of anti-corruption, integrity and fair competition, the Faculty of Economics – Zagreb organizes guest lectures by experts from the field and includes these important topics in its curricula.
In his lecture, Dr. Hendrik Bosshammer from the OECD's Directorate for Global Relations and Cooperation presented to the students the main results of the "Fair Market Conditions for Competitiveness" project for Croatia. In particular, he highlighted the achievements, challenges, and recommendations in three important areas – anti-corruption, competition, and state-owned enterprises. At the beginning of the lecture, the students were given an insight into the activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which was very interesting for the students, as the OECD Council opened negotiations on Croatia's accession to the OECD on January 25, 2022.
The lecture was followed by a discussion with the students and other participants, led by Ana Andabaka, Associate Professor at the Department of Macroeconomics and Economic Development, Faculty of Economics & Business – Zagreb. The students were particularly interested in the role of anti-corruption in the context of Croatia's accession process. A large number of over a hundred students testified to the extraordinary interest in the presented topic.