RECONSTRUCTED BORDER PASS GORICAN-LETENYE REOPENED

LETENYE, March 18 (Hina) - Croatia's European Integration Minister Neven Mimica and Hungary's minister in charge of the European Union's PHARE assistance programme, Imra Boros, opened the new cargo terminal and border crossing of Letenye on Monday. #L# The border crossings of Letenye in Hungary and Gorican in Croatia are the crucial points of a very busy European corridor linking Croatia and its northern port of Rijeka with the most important destinations in Hungary and other countries of central and east Europe. A total of 7.16 million euros or 53 million kuna was invested into the construction, modernisation and equipment of the new border pass, of which 2.5 million euros was donated by the European Union within the PHARE programme. Letenye and Gorican are important points of passenger and goods transport. Last year, 3.6 million passengers crossed the two border passes, which is a 20.7 percent increase compared to 2000. A total of 765,000 personal vehicles crossed the border passes in both directions last year and cargo transport has been increasing steadily as well. (hina) sb rml