CROATIA & BOSNIAN FEDERATION TO SIGN NEW TRADE AGREEMENT

( Editorial: --> 7570 ) ZAGREB, April 17 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa on Friday met his Bosnian Federation counterpart Edhem Bicakcic behind closed doors. The two prime ministers later attended the signing of an agreement on the sale of Bosnian electric power to Croatia. Under the agreement, the Bosnian electric utility Elektroprivreda will deliver 500 million kWh of electricity to Croatia by the end of the year. After the talks, the two prime ministers said that the Bosnian Federation and Croatia had many common interests. These needed to be promoted in a systematic way. Both prime ministers agreed that an agreement on special relations between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation could be reached in the near future, Matesa said. Transit through Neum and the Ploce port issue were also near resolution, he added. According to Matesa, it was agreed to build a bridge at Samac, 200 kms east of Zagreb, as a joint venture. Discussing road links between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Federation representatives said their priority was building a corridor linking Ploce, Mostar, Sarajevo and Osijek, which was also important for Croatia, Matesa said. As for the southern, "Dayton", highway, both sides were interested in building it, Matesa said. According to Bicakcic, who is on a one-day official visit to Croatia, the meeting discussed the need to revise certain provisions of a pre-Dayton agreement on trade cooperation. He announced that talks on a new trade agreement would begin next week. Bicakcic stressed the importance of railway links between Croatia and the Federation, which would enable Bosnia's Croat-Muslim entity to start production in industrial centres such as Tuzla and Zenica. (hina) mm as/mb 171813 MET apr 98