CROATIA AND BOSNIA HAVE JOINT INTEREST IN CONCLUDING TRADE DEAL

ZAGREB, June 5 (Hina) - Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina have the mutual interest in reaching very soon an agreement on trade, said the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) head, Nadan Vidosevic, during his talks with a delegation of the Bosnian Serb entity's chamber of commerce that paid a visit to the HGK on Monday. A month before, the HGK head recollected, a meeting was held by officials of regional and cantonal chambers from the two Bosnian entities - the Croatian-Moslem Federation and the Republic of Srpska - and representatives of Croatian counties' chambers. They discussed the promotion of the cooperation between the two countries. The main topic of their meeting was a possible trade agreement. A week before Sarajevo hosted a business conference on the furtherance of the economic cooperation between Zagreb and Sarajevo. Vidosevic said the two parties should set up expert groups to accelerate this process. The trade contract will be of vital importance for the two economies. There are many possibilities for cooperation and we are geographically linked, Vidosevic explained. A suspension of a similar agreement one year before produced immeasurable damage. There was a dramatic plunge in Bosnia's exports to Croatia and vice versa, and it is an unsustainable situation for Croatia, he added. According to Croatia's Statistical Office, in 1999 Zagreb exported commodities worth 547 million US dollars to Bosnia, or by 16.3 percent less as against 1998, whereas from Bosnia it imported goods worth 117 million dollars, or by 24.9 percent less compared to 1998. (hina) mm ms