CROATIA, CUBA SIGN ECONOMIC, TRADE COOPERATION AGREEMENTS

ZAGREB, Feb 19 (Hina) - The recently signed Croatian-Cuban agreements on economic and trade cooperation and the stimulation and protection of investments are the foundation for economic cooperation between the two countries in the future, a Croatian Economy Ministry official said on Monday. The agreements were signed in Cuba late last week by Croatia's Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic and Cuba's Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez Ramirez and Foreign Investing and Economic Cooperation Minister Ernest Senti Darias. The economic and trade cooperation agreement guarantees equal market access and payments in convertible currency, said Olgica Spevec, assistant economy minister for international relations. The two countries also signed an agreement on mutual cooperation between the Croatian and Cuban chambers of commerce. It was agreed Cuban businessmen should visit Croatia in September at the latest. Minister Fizulic and his Cuban interlocutors also tackled the settlement of a 17 million Canadian dollar debt Cuba owes some Croatian companies for industrial equipment which was delivered when Croatia was a constituent republic of the former Yugoslav federation. The Cuban side said the successor states to the former federation should first establish the amount of the debt each is entitled to and that Cuba would then be willing to negotiate with them. (hina) ha