Finance Minister Ivan Suker said that the agreement, signed during last month's meeting between Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and his Slovene counterpart Janez Jansa on the northern Croatian Adriatic islands of Brijuni, would improve the exchange of goods and services between the two countries.
The document deals, among other things, with the issue of taxation of pensions which Croatian citizens earned in Slovenia and Slovenes in Croatia. More than 14,000 Croats earned their pension in Slovenia and are entitled to tax relief.
Suker said that the application of the provisions governing pension allowances would start the first following month after ratification, while all other provisions would be applied as of 1 January 2006.
Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) said that the Croatian pensioners might lose between 16 and 32 per cent of their pensions unless Slovenia ratified the treaty by the year's end.
Peasant Party (HSS) deputy Ante Markov described the ratification of the agreement by the Sabor as a positive step in overall relations between Croatia and Slovenia, expressing confidence that Slovenia would take the Croatian move as a message to do the same as quickly as possible.
Markov said that the ratification was a chance for the two countries to resolve the remaining outstanding issues, including the problem of deposits of Croatian citizens in the now defunct Slovene bank Ljubljanska Banka, and the need for Slovenia to adjust its road infrastructure to Croatia's.
Parliamentary parties also supported the proposed ratification of a guarantee agreement between Croatia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the construction of coastal infrastructure in the port of Dubrovnik.