BRUSSELS CONFERENCE CONSIDERS QUICK START PROJECTS

BRUSSELS, March 30 (Hina) - A Regional Funding Conference of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe continued on Thursday with sessions held behind the closed doors. Countries that can donate funds and international organisations should assume firmer commitments to financing projects, evaluated and proposed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank For Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) according to their importance for the region of southeastern Europe. Besides six member countries that are beneficiaries of the funds, representatives of EU member-states, other European countries, the United States, Japan, Australia and South Korea are attending the two-day conference in Brussels. There are also officials of 37 international organisations and financial institutions. The purpose of the Brussels event is to find financial arrangements primarily for covering the so-called quick-start projects, the implementation which can commence immediately or no later than one year. In addition, the conference's members are there to register short-term (with time frames of two years) and medium-term projects. These two kinds of suggestions will be further discussed at coming financial conferences of the Stability Pact. According to unofficial data from preparations to this Brussels conference, a total price of proposed projects that are seeking financial construction in Brussels comes to 1.727 billion euro. Of this sum, the Stability Pact's first working table on democratisation and human rights is expecting to receive 255 million euro for projects pertaining to above mentioned matter. The proposed sum for projects of the second working table on the reconstruction and building of infrastructure amounts to 1.449 billion euro. This working table has proposed about thirty quick- start projects. Concerning the third table on security issues, organisers have planned to ensure 77.81 million euro and additional 5.16 million euro for the horizontal projects such as the fight against corruption. There are four Croatian programmes among the quick start projects in infrastructure. Besides, there is one already promoted plan referring to the financial construction of building 23 kilometres of the Varazdin- Zagreb motorway's section, valued some 150 million euro (and of it, 50 million are to be earmarked in the two-year period, namely the short-time period). Other four are: - the modernisation and electrification of the Beli Manastir- Vrpolje railway line (eastern Croatia). The price of the first phase is 22 million euro; - the financing of studies on the re-introduction of the Croatian Power Industry (HEP) transmission lines in the European system for coordination and transmission of power (UCTE). The price is 0.5 million euro; - a system for the purifying waste water in Rijeka to adjust ecological standards in the protection of the sea to such standards in the EU. The price is 10 million euro; - the protection of the Adriatic including the so-called Master Plan for the environmental protection. The price is one million euro. Results of conclusions about the financing of proposed projects will officially be announced on Thursday evening, upon the end of the two-day funding conference. (hina) mm ms