FORUM ON CRAFTS HELD AT ZAGREB FAIR

ZAGREB, April 24 (Hina) - The Croatian government will soon sign a contract with the World Bank on a USD 200 million-worth loan for the development of crafts and small and medium businesses, Croatian Vice Premier Slavko Linic said at the Crafts Fair, a traditional meeting of government officials and craftsmen, held at the Zagreb Fair on Tuesday. A set of free trade agreements Croatia will sign and its agreement with the International Monetary Fund give a clear signal to foreign investors that the small Croatian market is interesting, Linic said. Small businesses must be developed but the segment itself must make efforts to enter foreign markets, find foreign partners and establish cooperation with large domestic systems, it was said. Croatian Chamber of Crafts' president Stjepan Safran said Croatia had 89,000 crafts enterprises last year, which was a two percent decrease as against the year before. At the same time, the number of employees in those enterprises increased by 5.8 percent, he said. Last year, 512 million kuna was invested in small and medium businesses through the Ministry for Crafts and Small and Medium Businesses, and more than 10,000 people found employment in this sector, the Minister of Crafts and Small and Medium Businesses, Zeljko Pecek, said. Pecek announced new, more favourable credit lines for the sector, with an interest rate of 7.5 percent or even less. Today's meeting was also informed about the establishment of an agency for crafts and small and medium businesses, which is to coordinate and plan the development of this sector. (hina) sb rml