CROATIAN ECONOMY MINISTER MEETS HIS BRITISH COUNTERPART IN SEATTLE

ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - During the last day of the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle, Croatia's Economy Minister Nenad Porges held talks with his British counterpart Richard Caborn. The two ministers discussed a procedure for Croatia's admission into the WTO, prospects of Croatia's entrance in EuroAtlantic association processes and Croatian-British economic ties, read a statement issued by the Economy Ministry in Zagreb on Saturday. Porges notified Caborn of his country's efforts to solve the problem of admittance into the WTO and asked him for the British support to Croatia's bids to settle the issue very soon. The British official announced that this matter would be considered at a session of the general Council of Ministers of the European Union, scheduled for Monday. The Croatian and British ministers assessed the current bilateral economic cooperation positively. Porges and Caborn also talked about a recent act of Great Britain to introduce visas for passengers with Croatian passports. Porges added that at this moment it was unnecessary to thwart good political and economic relations between London and Zagreb by the introduction of the visa regime. On Friday evening Croatia's delegation led by Porges met representatives of Croatian immigrants' community in Seattle. Porges thanked American Croats for their calls on U.S. officials to back Croatia's entry into the WTO and for their actions aimed at acquainting a broader community with problems of blockades for the admission to the WTO. (hina) ms