MINISTER PRESENTS CROATIAN PROGRESS IN PRIVATISATION AT CONFERENCE

( Editorial: --> 8184 ) BUDAPEST, April 20 (Hina) - Croatian Privatisation Minister Milan Kovac on Monday afternoon addressed a Central European Initiative (CEI) ministerial conference on privatisation in Budapest. He told the meeting that Croatia had privatised 2,553 former socially owned companies up to now and next in line was the privatisation of large public enterprises. Those firms will be privatised gradually on the basis of the Privatisation Law passed by the Croatian National Parliament in 1996, Kovac said. The Croatian Privatisation Minister explained that 30 per cent of the nominal value of those firms would be reserved for retirement fund reform, while free stocks of shares in public enterprises would be given to Homeland War defenders. Parliament would decide on the shares to be offered to international stock markets and the tempo of privatisation, Kovac said. He suggested that the next conference of CEI privatisation ministers be held in October this year in Croatia - either in Dubrovnik or on the Brijuni Islands. During the day the Croatian delegation held separate talks with Hungarian representatives lead by Privatisation Minister Judith Csiha on boosting concrete cooperation between the two countries in the privatisation process. (Hina) mb /ha 201839 MET apr 98