NEW YORK, June 23 (Hina) - Croatia's economy and administration as well as public services believe they will be ready to welcome Year 2000, while some computer programmes of minor importance will fix Year 2000 problem after January 1
next year, said Croatia's representative, Marijan Frkovic at the UN Conference on the Y2K2 Problem in New York on Tuesday. Although this assessment is generally favourable, it contains some reservations. First of all, this is the remark given by companies or state bodies themselves and has not yet been confirmed independently. The Croatian Government's Commission for the Y2K2 Problem has concluded concisely that those that do their business well or are oriented toward the world are solving successfully this problem. Big public companies have already taken necessary measures to be prepared for the Year 2000 date change. This applies for the Croatian Telecommunications (HT). On
NEW YORK, June 23 (Hina) - Croatia's economy and administration as
well as public services believe they will be ready to welcome Year
2000, while some computer programmes of minor importance will fix
Year 2000 problem after January 1 next year, said Croatia's
representative, Marijan Frkovic at the UN Conference on the Y2K2
Problem in New York on Tuesday.
Although this assessment is generally favourable, it contains some
reservations. First of all, this is the remark given by companies or
state bodies themselves and has not yet been confirmed
independently.
The Croatian Government's Commission for the Y2K2 Problem has
concluded concisely that those that do their business well or are
oriented toward the world are solving successfully this problem.
Big public companies have already taken necessary measures to be
prepared for the Year 2000 date change. This applies for the
Croatian Telecommunications (HT).
On the other hand, the Croatian Railways (HZ), has not yet started
adjusting their computer systems to avoid effects of the Y2K.
Passengers of Croatia's national flag carrier "Croatia Airlines"
can be calm. This company will not only get rid of old computer but
also of old planes "Boeing" from their fleet, which will be replaced
by new Airbus with adjusted computers to the Y2K date change.
The situation with banks is satisfactory, Frkovic added.
The Croatian National Bank is strictly controlling what commercial
banks have undertaken to be prepared for Year 2000. At the end of
June banks' boards of directors should sign a statement that they
have taken necessary measures. Licences will be revoked of banks
which fail to prepare themselves for this difficulty.
Bodies of the state administration have ensured that work may be
done smoothly as of January 1. The situation begs the question how
much has been done at a local level such as in register and cadastral
offices.
One of the biggest problems in this situation is a lack of money,
Frkovic said. For instance, about 35 million dollars were spent in
the Croatian Telecommunications for adjusting computer programmes
to the Year 2000 date change.
No means have been allocated from the state budget to finance the
Government's Y2K Commission. The Commission, however, can work
thanks to money given by the World Bank and other donations.
Frkovic informed the UN Conference of some interesting things in
this field in Croatia. No firm has asked for the outside expert
assistance, although the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and the
society of information technology experts have provided a back-up
for them.
A Zagreb firm has the original idea to fix the Y2K problem by turning
its computers' clocks and calendars back to 1972 on January 1, 2000,
as the 1972 and 2000 years have identical days and dates.
At the end of this month Croatia's Sabor will accept a report of the
Y2K Commission and discuss the document.
(hina) ms