ZAGREB, Dec 31 (Hina) - As of January 1, 2002, around 78% of Croatia's foreign trade will be realised in line with the principle of free trade, which means that most industrial exports and imports will have a zero duty rate while
agricultural and food products will be traded with mutual concessions. Croatia enters 2002 with ten free trade agreements signed with 27 countries. It previously signed and has been implementing free trade agreements with Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and 2001 saw a record number of free trade agreements. This year Croatia signed free trade agreements with Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, and the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), as well as a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union. Most of these agreements will go temporarily in force on January 1, 2002.
ZAGREB, Dec 31 (Hina) - As of January 1, 2002, around 78% of
Croatia's foreign trade will be realised in line with the principle
of free trade, which means that most industrial exports and imports
will have a zero duty rate while agricultural and food products will
be traded with mutual concessions.
Croatia enters 2002 with ten free trade agreements signed with 27
countries. It previously signed and has been implementing free
trade agreements with Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina,
and 2001 saw a record number of free trade agreements. This year
Croatia signed free trade agreements with Hungary, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, and the countries of the
European Free Trade Association (EFTA), as well as a Stabilisation
and Association Agreement with the European Union. Most of these
agreements will go temporarily in force on January 1, 2002.
Free trade agreements are a significant contribution of the
Croatian government to the liberalisation of foreign trade and
provide an opportunity to increase experts and stimulate foreign
investments, Assistant Economy Minister Olgica Spevec said at a
news conference in Zagreb on Monday.
In 2002 Croatia plans to become a full member of the Central
European Free Trade Agreement, sign a free trade agreement with
Yugoslavia, and hold consultations on such agreements with Israel
and Baltic countries.
The new year will see the start of implementation of a new decree on
customs tariffs, with tariff marks and regulations which are valid
in the entire Europe, and a decree on customs quotas for
agricultural and food products.
As of January 1, 2002, the granting of the quotas will no longer be
within the competence of the Economy Ministry but be transferred to
the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.
This year has already seen some results of market liberalisation,
including a lower inflation rate, which in the first 11 months was
2.8%, Spevec said. One can expect that inflation will not rise in
2002 and that prices will stabilise and even drop, she added.
(hina) rml