[LINK] "Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia Seek Yugo Roots for Profit"

[rfmcdonald]

This Bloomberg Businessweek article explores the interesting reunification of a Yugoslavian community of sorts, an association of independent states with shared historical, economic, even cultural links. I'm not sure that the authors distinguish sufficiently between the various components of the "Yugosphere"--Slovenia's not only in the European Union but in the Eurozone, while Croatia is slated to join soon, and the remainder of the former Yugoslavia including Serbia doesn't have a date--but still, there's something there; the wage differentials alone should ensure some sort of regional integration.

Companies, including Gorenje, Croatian food and cosmetic maker Atlantic Grupa d.d. and Serb refinery Naftna Industrija Srbije AD, say they’re reviving old ties to develop a new “Yugosphere.” Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia are in discussions to merge state-owned airlines, stock exchanges and railways to re-establish links and bolster their economies.

“I remember a time when politicians criticized companies that did business with the rest of Yugoslavia,” said [Franjo Bobinac, the chief executive officer of Slovenia’s Gorenje Group d.d., the largest appliance maker in the Balkans,] in a Sept. 13 interview before today’s presentation. Executives want to promote “top-quality products from the time of a once- unified state,” he said.

The combined gross domestic product of the six former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina and the breakaway province of Kosovo totals $192 billion, about the same as the Czech Republic and Portugal, according to the International Monetary Fund.

[. . .]

People everywhere may not be ready for Yugosphere, but they are living it,” said Tim Judah, the Economist magazine writer who coined the term. “In the morning they drink Croatian milk, then they watch a program on Bosnian TV, and eat a snack made by a Serbian company that is owned by a Slovenian company, which is about to be bought by a Croatian company.”

Croatia and Slovenia have agreed on ways to settle a border row and pledged on July 31 to resolve a quarrel about Ljubljana- based Nova Ljubljanska Banka d.d., which was barred from operating in Croatia because its Yugoslav predecessor owes Croatian savers $208 million plus interest.

In July, Zagreb-based Atlantic bought Slovenia’s Droga Kolinska d.d to acquire Cockta, the best-selling soft drink during Communist times that competes locally with Coca-Cola. Slovenia’s Petrol Group d.d. purchased Croatian LPG distributor Butan last month. Mercator Poslovni Sistem d.d., the biggest supermarket chain in southeast Europe, signed an alliance with Coka d.o.o. of Serbia.