BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO.4878 HINA Zagreb, 28 February 2003

HR-POLITICS-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO.4878 HINA Zagreb, 28 February 2003 CROATIA TO BECOME CEFTA MEMBER TOMORROWZAGREB, Feb (Hina) - Croatia will tomorrow become the eighth member of the Central European Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and will participate as full member at a meeting of member-countries state secretaries in Ljubljana on March 6. The Croatian parliament yesterday ratified an agreement on the country's joining CEFTA, as had other CEFTA members. The agreement was signed on December 5. As the agreement takes effect, all free trade agreements with CEFTA members -- Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, -- cease to be valid. They will be replaced by the agreement on joining the association. The document also regulates the liberalisation of the trade with Romania, which was the only CEFTA member with whom Croatia had not before concluded a free trade agreement. The economy ministry expects that the application of the agreement would increase the c