PICULA TO MEET HIS YUGOSLAV COUNTERPART ON FRIDAY

ZAGREB, Dec 10 (Hina) - Croatian and Yugoslav foreign ministers Tonino Picula and Goran Svilanovic will meet in Zagreb on Friday, the Croatian foreign minister said on Monday. During the meeting, the two sides should sign several bilateral agreements. Picula announced his meeting with Svilanovic at today's session of the Croatian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee. The two ministers met last in New York on the margins of a UN General Assembly in November. During Svilanovic's visit to Zagreb, an agreement on avoiding double taxation should be signed, and possibly a readmission agreement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Goran Rotim told Hina. Croatia and Yugoslavia recently began negotiations on an agreement on the protection of minorities and a free trade agreement. The first meeting of a joint border commission was also held, and negotiations on cultural, educational and scientific cooperation between the two countries should begin soon, Rotim said. Besides Picula, the Yugoslav foreign minister will also hold talks with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, Prime Minister Ivica Racan and parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic. (hina) lml sb