Protocol VII is a document regulating the export and import of agricultural produce and food between Croatia and the 25-member European Union.
Overall Croatian exports rose by 10 percent in the same period, Cobankovic said, explaining the government's proposal that Parliament should ratify the said protocol.
These figures deny forecasts that Protocol VII would facilitate higher imports in Croatia, the minister added.
Finance Minister Ivan Suker informed the government of plans to introduce special stamps for coffee sold on the Croatian market. The purpose of the measure is to ensure better control of the coffee market and it is expected to bring an additional 40 million kuna into the state budget.
The introduction of stamps is provided for in a new draft bill on special tax on coffee which the Ivo Sanader cabinet sent into urgent parliamentary procedure.
The finance minister said that the purpose of the measure was to prevent coffee smuggling as a result of which the state budget lost about 70 million kuna in 2003.