CROATIAN FIRST DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER VISITS ISRAEL AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

TEL AVIV, Aug 1 (Hina) - Croatia's First Deputy Premier Goran Granic on Tuesday toured Israel Aircraft Industry (IAI) near Tel Aviv. Goran Granic, accompanied by Croatian Ministers of Defence ad Economy, Jozo Rados and Goranko Fizulic respectively, toured plants of this biggest Israeli industrial company which is interested in possible modernisation of Croatia's MIG 21 planes. The IAI, along with Israeli "Elbit Systems" firm", is interested in getting a job to upgrade MIG 21 aircraft which Croatia possesses. The job would be worth some 110 million US dollars. By the end of this year Croatian Government should opt either for modernisation of the fighters it possesses or for the purchase of new planes. Negotiations between Croatian and Israel Aircraft Industry are under way on Zagreb's purchase of supervisory electronic communications systems for Croatia's defence needs. The negotiations will resume in Zagreb this autumn and are likely to be completed at the beginning of 2001. Besides, IAI is capable of modernising Croatian helicopters of the MI-24 type. While IAI, which employs 14,500 workers, is focusing on increasing its commercial holdings, military projects still constitute a large percentage of IAI's output. The Arrow project, a missile defence system jointly funded by Israel and the United States, has continued to experience positive developments. The company exports even 80 percent its output and the value of the export will come to 1.8 billion dollars this year. (hina) ms