FOREIGN MINISTRY REACTS TO PRESS ARTICLE ABOUT SUGAR

ZAGREB, Sept 14 (Hina) - The Croatian Foreign Ministry on Saturday released a statement in reaction to a newspaper article about a previous ministry statement on Foreign Minister Tonino Picula's meeting with the Cuban ambassador. #L# The statement about Picula's talks with Ambassador Jose R. Cabanas did not make the European Union suspect that Croatia was smuggling sugar into the Union, the suspicion had been aroused before, the ministry said in today's statement about an article which appeared in the "Jutarnji list" daily. The article incorrectly links the ministry's statement about the Picula-Cabanas talks with the "sugar affair", said the ministry. The European Commission started suspecting that Croatia is breaching a trade agreement with the EU on the privileged export of sugar months before the April 10 statement about the Picula-Cabanas talks, the ministry said. Moreover, that statement did not speak about the processing of Cuban sugar for the EU but about processing for countries in central and eastern Europe, it added. The Foreign Ministry further stated that Picula's words in the April 10 statement were interpreted wrongly, and that Picula's hope that Croatia and Cuba would cooperate in the processing of Cuban sugar in the future was presented as cooperation which was already underway. Croatia does not import sugar from Cuba, and Cuban export to Croatia in 2001 was a mere US$148,000, the ministry said. Picula's talks with the Cuban ambassador followed a visit a Croatian economic delegation paid Cuba in February, on which occasion, according to the ministry, the Croatian delegation discussed the possibility of cooperation in sugar processing. Cuba's Sugar Ministry told the delegation that export quotas for Cuban sugar were determined for two years ahead and that such cooperation with Croatia would not be possible in 2001 and 2002, the Foreign Ministry stated. (hina) ha