CROATIA SUGGESTS GRADUAL OPENING OF ITS MARKET FOR EU PRODUCTS

BRUSSELS, Jan 25 (Hina) - At the negotiations with the European Union on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), Croatia proposes that its market be gradually opened for the European products through a transitional period up to six years for most sensitive products, Croatia's chief negotiator, Neven Mimica, said in Brussels on Thursday. "Our proposal is that for the most sensitive industrial and agricultural produce there is a six-year-long transitional period in which the Croatian marked will be opened gradually for EU products," Mimica said upon the completion of the first part of technical negotiations officials of Croatia and the European Commission held on the trade liberalisation. The talks will resume today and tomorrow. "This time term is for the time being acceptable for European Commission representatives," he said. Mimica explained that for industrial products there would probably be two lists - one with items for the three-year-long liberalisation and the other with the six-year deadline. As regards the agricultural produce from the EU, there will be a few lists with different time spans, and the most sensitive products will need a period longer than six years for their protection, Mimica added. In 2000, the EU unilaterally opened its market for almost all industrial and agricultural goods imported from Croatia. The European Commission's delegation at the negotiations is led by Chaterine Day, the deputy director-general of the EC foreign affairs department. The next plenary round will take place in Brussels in the late February when the two parties will start discussing the SAA's judiciary and internal affairs chapter. (hina) sb ms