CROATIAN DELEGATION MEETS YUGOSLAV DEPUTY PM

BELGRADE, March 5 (Hina) - A Croatian government delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic met Yugoslav Deputy PM Miroljub Labus in Belgrade on Tuesday. Croatia would like to sign bilateral agreements with Yugoslavia, particularly one on free trade, by or during autumn, Linic told reporters after the talks. Besides Linic, the Croatian delegation includes Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic, Assistant Foreign Minister Josko Paro, and the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Nadan Vidosevic. "I feel we can tell Europe we are ready to cooperate and we wish to show that people here can create, make money and look to the future," said Linic. He added maximum effort must be invested in overcoming obstacles and solving issues. He maintained today's economic meetings are an example of how to resolve political issues and those dating back to the past. Croatian and Yugoslav officials agreed to launch the liberalisation of visa requirements for businessmen. This should end the differentiation between them and ordinary citizens, Linic said, adding the first results should be expected by year's end. Yugoslavia's Labus said today's meeting indicated that relations between the two countries had progressed. Voicing hope a free trade agreement would be initialled as soon as possible, he said the meeting also addressed contentious issues in a constructive and encouraging way. Before meeting Labus, the Croatian delegation held talks with the president of the Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce, Slobodan Korac, and other senior officials of the Yugoslav and Serbian governments. These talks addressed many possibilities of cooperation and mutual economic investments. The aim is to increase trade, which is ascending constantly, to one billion US dollars, said Croatian Economy Minister Fizulic. (hina) ha sb