U.S. TO CONTINUE ACTIVE SUPPORT TO CRO ACCESS TO WTO - U.S. OFFICIAL

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Hina) - The United States will continue to actively support Croatia's access to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the U.S. state secretary's assistant for economy, Alan Larson, told Croatia's Ambassador Miomir Zuzul on Wednesday. Zuzul told Larson full membership in the WTO was one of Croatia's basic goals. The Larson-Zuzul talks focused on how to find a solution regarding audio-visual services, the last obstacle to Croatia's access to the WTO. Late last year, France objected to an agreement according to which Croatia would not be subjected to the so called Baltic formula for a guaranteed quantity of audio-visual contents. Zuzul thanked Larson on past U.S. support, and voiced hope it would continue in the future. Larson said it was in U.S. interest for Croatia to successfully complete access to the WTO as soon as possible. The talks also discussed bilateral economic relations, in particular successful businesses with U.S. companies Bechtel and Enron. Larson said he was sure Croatia's new government would respect undertaken contractual obligations in their entirety which, he pointed out, was a condition necessary for the arrival of other U.S. companies and investors. (hina) ha