ZAGREB, Oct 19 (Hina) - Croatia's Economy Minister Nenad Porges on Tuesday held talks with Fabrizio Barbaso, a director in the European Commission foreign affairs department, on the economic cooperation between Croatia and the
European Union.
ZAGREB, Oct 19 (Hina) - Croatia's Economy Minister Nenad Porges on
Tuesday held talks with Fabrizio Barbaso, a director in the
European Commission foreign affairs department, on the economic
cooperation between Croatia and the European Union.#L#
At the meeting, which was also attended by EU special envoy to
Croatia, Per Vinther, Porges informed EU officials of the current
economic situation in Croatia and possible macroeconomic trends by
the end of 1999.
He also told them that the Croatian Government's priorities in the
coming period would be to maintain the macroeconomic stability,
consolidate the public expenditure, step up Croatia's bids to join
integration processes, and take measures aimed at increasing
foreign investments.
Porges pointed out the necessity of EU stronger support to
Croatia's bids to enter European integration processes.
He and his interlocutors also discussed the EU blockade for
Croatia's admission into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) due to
the well-known problem of audio-visual services.
Croatia's representative reiterated that his country is willing to
accept a solution which can be found through talks held between the
EU and the United States. Porges added that negotiations had so far
brought no results, which might reflect that the problem, caused by
different interests of the USA and the EU, cannot be overcome soon.
This situation has affected not only Croatia but also other
countries such as Albania and Moldova.
Barbaso responded that negotiations between the EU and the United
States were under way now and he hoped that they would be completed
soon. Barbaso asserted that no politically-motivated reasons
against Croatia's membership in the WTO stood behind the EU stand,
but there were real problems stemming from the unsettled issue of
audio-visual services at the global level.
While discussing the start of activities for initiating
negotiations on the conclusion of the Agreement on Stabilisation
and Association, Barbaso relayed the EU stance under which it is
necessary for Croatia to fulfil certain political prerequisites
and that the EU cannot abandon already uttered requests that are
still to be met.
Porges and Barbaso also discussed the trade regime which the EU is
being conducting, through its unilateral decisions, for the
imports from Croatia. In view of that both Croatia and Bosnia-
Herzegovina are beneficiary of that joint privileged regime, so
that the allocation of quotas and the usage of customs tariffs
ceilings for certain industrial products is not favourable for
Croatian exporters, Porges told Barbaso that Croatian exporters
would like that this regime be separately arranged for Croatia and
Bosnia as of next year.
Porges also asked EU representatives that the anti-damping
procedure against the Croatian steelworks in Sisak be solved as
soon as possible. The antidamping tax of 31.2 percent on seamless
steel pipes made it impossible for the Sisak Steelworks to export
any longer its products to the EU market and this situation brought
the entire production of this factory into question, read a
statement issued by Croatia's Economy Ministry.
(hina) jn ms