ITALIAN BUSINESS PEOPLE WILLING TO INVEST IN CROATIA

ZAGREB, April 18 (Hina) - There are many Italian business people and companies willing to invest in Croatia once its legislation and fiscal and tax policy are such as to secure the return of invested capital, Gian Carlo Murkovic, president of Italy's Association of Chambers of Commerce for the Adriatic and Central Europe (ACCOA), told reporters after meeting Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic. "The Italian delegation wanted concrete answers about Croatia's future tax policy, as well as about investment security and incentives for the arrival of Italian investors in mixed companies or their entering property relations in some Croatian companies," Linic said after the meeting. The Deputy Prime Minister said the Italian delegation was offered numerous data and guarantees that taxes would be stimulating for foreign investments. "We are interested in Italy's successful capital and I believe we will not disappoint Italian business people and that the Croatian market will be one of their successful steps," Linic added. Murkovic said the ACCOA delegation requested a list of Croatian companies which are being privatised so that industrialists and owners of medium and small-sized businesses could see where possible investments could be made. He announced that one of the largest Italian insurance companies, the Trieste-based Generali, would by the end of this year be present on the Croatian market. The Italian delegation also included representatives of all economic structures - from the banking sector to small, medium, and large industries from northern Italian provinces. Attending the meeting was also Adriano Bisogni, representative of the Banco Commerciale Italiana, which owns the Privredna Bank. Bisogni confirmed the interest of Italy's Unicredito Bank in the Splitska Bank, and estimated that the situation on the Croatian banking and financial market was very good. (hina) mm rml