BICAKCIC BELIEVES NO NEW TRADE AGREEMENT WITH CROATIA IS NECESSARY

SARAJEVO, June 9 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina needs no new agreement on the trade cooperation with Croatia as long as the borderline is not demarcated and border police and multiethnic customs service are not established in Bosnia-Herzegovina, said Edhem Bicakcic, the Premier of Bosnia's Croat-Moslem entity (the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina). Bicakcic said in an interview published in Wednesday's issue of the Sarajevo-based "Dnevni Avaz" that advantages from some new trade deal would be of benefit only to Croatia as the two countries are not in the equal position relating to registering the transit of goods. Furthermore, the economy in Bosnia is considerably weaker than in Croatia, Bicakcic added. Explaining that the above-mentioned opinion was his personal standpoint, Bicakcic said he did not expect from the coming meeting of the Council for Cooperation between Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, convened for Friday in Zagreb, to discuss trade ties, as it is the question to be solved at the state level. Premier of the Bosnian Croat-Moslem entity indirectly criticised the work of his deputy Dragan Covic who is also the Finance Minister in the Federation. Bicakcic was dissatisfied with the work of the customs and tax administration which are departments of the federal Finance Ministry, and blamed cantons with the Croat majority for pouring an insufficient amount of money into the federal budget. (hina) ms