CROATIAN AMBASSADOR TO USA MEETS OFFICIALS OF EX-IM BANK

WASHINGTON, May 17 (Hina) - Croatia's Ambassador to the United States, Miomir Zuzul, on Wednesday met officials of the US Ex-im Bank, which recently announced the opening of its regional office for South-East Europe in Zagreb. Zuzul met Dan Renberg, member of the bank's management, Jeffrey Miller, vice-president, and Margaret Kostic, the future director of the Zagreb Ex-im Bank office. Zuzul said the decision of this important financial institution to choose Zagreb as its regional centre "has proved further successful development of partnership relations" between Croatia and the United States. "The Croatian Government welcomes the fact that Zagreb is becoming the centre of US government institutions in the region and wider," Zuzul said. Ex-im Bank vice-president Jeffrey Miller said by opening its office in Zagreb the bank wanted to increase the interest of US companies in investing in and developing trade with Croatia and other countries in the region. Dan Renberg said the bank wanted to include in its future projects small and medium-sized companies from the two countries. He also stressed the importance of projects on environmental protection. The Ex-im Bank has been operating in Croatia for several years and it has issued guarantees worth half a billion dollars, which is almost half the amount of all US investments in foreign countries, which makes the United States the biggest investor in Croatia. (hina) rml