4TH CROATIAN FINANCIAL FORUM ENDS

ZAGREB, May 14 (Hina) -After three days of intense business activities, round-table conferences and presentations, the Fourth Croatian Financial forum ended in Zagreb on Friday. The forum gathered 72 participants from Croatia and abroad, connected with the business and financial sectors. The forum was held under the slogan Onto Challenges of the New Millennium, and it gathered representatives of the media and publishing companies, companies offering information and financial services, real-estate mediators and so on. participants of the forum warned the Croatian economy was in recession. They pointed out the necessity of overcoming the crisis of liquidity in economy and problems in banking. They warned of the necessity of planning a strategy of economic growth, and stressed Croatia must open up to investors and foreign markets. As part of the forum, round-table conferences were held about the situation on the Croatian financial market, reform of the pension system the influence of information technology on financial markets and economic and political reporting. A golden Bond was traditionally awarded, this year to the Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva. Pliva's stock was also pronounced the stock of the year A Bankers bond was awarded to Zagrebacka Bank's "O" series stock, while the Tourism Bond was awarded to Porec's Plava Laguna company. The financial forum was used by some companies for the signing of agreements, and some for presenting the results of their business in 1998 and their future business policy. (hina) lml jn