CROATIA, FRANCE SIGN THREE ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS

PARIS, June 19 (Hina) - Croatia and France on Thursday signed three agreements -- on the avoidance of double taxation, on cooperation between small and medium-sized companies, and on cooperation between the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) and the French Export Insurance Agency (COFACE). #L# The last barriers have been removed and investments are expected to grow, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic said after signing the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation with France's Foreign Trade Minister Francois Loos at the French finance ministry. The agreement on cooperation between small and medium-scale companies was signed by Loos and Croatia's Minister for Trades, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Zeljko Pecek. Pecek acquainted small investors and consulting houses with projects Croatia developed over the past two years -- zones in which entrepreneurs may invest or build facilities for symbolic prices -- particularly a catalogue of 300 projects envisaging investing in infrastructure, with emphasis on the ecology. Pecek said he was pleased with France's interest in investing in Croatia, as well as with the fact that the agreement enabled the arrival of Croatian product on the French market. HBOR chairman of the board Anton Kovacev said the cooperation agreement he signed with COFACE board member Francois D'Ricolfiso envisaged exchange of information about the two countries' companies, as well as support to Croatian and French investors in joint ventures on third markets. The signing of the three agreements marked the end of the official part of a two-day visit by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and an economic and political delegation to France. The trip ends with a gala dinner tonight to be organised by Croatia's National Tourist Board. (hina) ha