CROATIA AND BOSNIA ARE REGULATING TRADE RELATIONS

SARAJEVO, Nov 22 (Hina) - During the forthcoming Zagreb summit, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina may settle one of the most important issues which has to date hampered their more successful economic cooperation. According to some announcements, Croatian and Bosnian officials are intending to sign an agreement on trade between the two countries. Although at previous negotiations there were plans to call this agreement a treaty on free trade, the term "free" will be left form the document because as of the start of the implementation of the deal, Bosnia will export its goods to Croatia without tariff barriers, whereas Croatian goods imported in Bosnia will gradually be freed from duties in next three years. The mere document will not be sufficient for the settlement of problems which the two countries are faced with, primarily in the economy and commerce. Their economic relations used to be encumbered with numerous open political issues, but even since the change of authorities in Croatia no significant headway has been made. Bosnia and Croatia have to date concluded an agreement on the investment protection, but business people see it as a too broad document which does not stimulate investment. The agreement on the Croatian port of Ploce and the transit through the Bosnian coastal town of Neum, signed a long time ago, still awaits ratification. Zagreb and Sarajevo are currently negotiating on an agreement on property relations, which should have been prepared for signing in Zagreb at the Summit but this will not be so. This document should regulate in detail property-rights relations on the territories of the two countries. An agreement on employment and movement of labour force as well as a treaty on the double taxation avoidance are still waiting for their harmonisation, and they are a pre-condition for an increase in the flow of capital between the two neighbours. Besides the trade agreement, the only significant treaty, made in line with European standards, is the one on social insurance signed at the latest meeting of the Inter-state Cooperation Council. Since the signing of the state frontier agreement, Bosnia and Croatia have begun marking the border-line. However, so far two road border crossings and four railway crossings have not been reopened. In addition the railway traffic has not been re- established, although this was a topic of the direct agreement reached at the Inter-state Council in Sarajevo this March. The biggest progress has been registered in the implementation of the 1998 agreement on special relations between Croatia and the Bosnia Croat-Moslem entity (the Federation). The document refers to the concrete cooperation in various sectors- -from power industry to the fight against organised crime. Croatia and Bosnia have signed many agreements on the return of refugees and assumed commitment to make more efforts to facilitate the return and reintegration of people who fled their pre-war homes. The latest agreement of this kind was signed this March by Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula and the Bosnian Serb entity's Premier, Milorad Dodik, on a pilot-programme for the return of 2,000 refugees both from Croatia and the Republic of Srpska. (hina) jn ms