CROATIA AND US DISCUSS CRO BID TO JOIN WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Hina) - Croatia should conclude all bilateral negotiations by the end of April, including ones held with the United States on Croatia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the head of the Croatian Negotiating Delegation, Neven Mimica, said on Wednesday in Washington. The Croatian Delegation is to hold talks with officials of the US Foreign Trade Department, the State Department, as well as the Commerce, Finance, and Agriculture departments, on remaining issues of the bilateral agreement on Thursday and Friday. "We hope this round of negotiations will settle everything regarding customs tariffs for industrial products and services", Mimica said. According to him, bilateral agreements with 16 countries, which expressed interest in reaching agreements with Croatia, could be completed by the end of April. This would help Croatia to join the WTO before the Organisation's Ministerial Meeting in November 1999. Bilateral negotiations with four countries are already completed, while the conclusion of agreements with the other countries considerably depends on the progress of negotiations with the United States. Apart form negotiations with interested countries, the Croatian National Sabor should endorse about eight new laws or make amendments to the current ones to be coordinated with the WTO demands. If Croatia fails to join the WTO before the Ministerial Conference in November, it could take up to three years for Croatia to be admitted to the WTO, due to the re-organisation of the WTO, Mimica warned. (hina) it