PARLIAMENT SPEAKER MEETS WORLD BANK DIRECTOR FOR CROATIA

ZAGREB, Jan 23 (Hina) - Croatian Parliament Speaker Zlatko Tomcic on Tuesday held talks with the World Bank's director for Croatia, Andrew Vorkink, and the head of the World Bank office in Croatia, Sandor Sipos, about the bank's programmes in Croatia, the Sabor's public relations office reported. Vorkink acquainted Tomcic with the programmes the World Bank was implementing in Croatia, which are aimed at improving its infrastructure, the reconstruction process and the reform of the social insurance system, as well as at stimulating structural changes in the economy. The programmes are aimed at enabling Croatia to catch up with east- European countries which in the early '90s were lagging behind Croatia but have caught up with and left it behind over the past ten years, drawing closer to the European Union, Sipos said. He pointed to the obstacles hampering development and presented possible scenarios for eliminating them. Tomcic agreed with Sipos and pointed to some other obstacles. Croatia lacks good programmes for crafts and small and medium-scale businesses and will welcome the World Bank's assistance in that regard, he said. (hina) rml