Croatia/ 3.4 International cultural co-operation  

3.4.2 Public actors and cultural diplomacy

The Ministry of Culture (on the national level) and larger cities (on the local level) are major founders of international cultural cooperation projects and initiatives. The Ministry of Culture cooperates with the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs which is responsible for coordination of work of cultural attachés. As Croatia does not have publicly mandated cultural agencies or institutes for cultural co-operation abroad, Croatian embassies are the most important focal points for the promotion of Croatian culture.

The Ministry of Culture operates all major instruments used in international cultural relations including state guarantees, bilateral agreements and programmes, as well as sector-specific agreements such as co-production agreements.

According to the planned budget for 2012, the allocation of the Ministry of Culture for international cultural cooperation is 13 111 368 HRK (approx.1 750 000 EUR). This shows a large increase in comparison to the previous year when it amounted to 9 253 000 HRK, (approx. 1 270 000 EUR), and turns round the trend of a further decrease that started in 2009. This is a result of the strategic orientation towards strengthening of this field. For example, in 2010, the allocation of the Ministry of Culture for international cultural cooperation was 12 404 000 HRK (approx. 1 700 000 EUR) compared to around 14 000 000 HRK (approx. 1 917 800 EUR) in 2009 and 17 950 000 million HRK (approx. 2 528 169 EUR) in the 2008 year. This includes the Funds received by the Ministry through the Lottery Fund (the amount varies depending on the income of the State Lottery.

Cultural agencies and institutes (such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, British Council, French Cultural Centre, Goethe Institute, Cultural Centre of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italian Institute for Culture, and Aula Cervantes) support cultural cooperation between respective countries and Croatia according to their mandate. EUNIC Hrvatska - a network of European cultural institutes operating in Croatia - was founded in 2007 and is a member of the European Union National Institutes for Culture-EUNIC.

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