GOVT ADOPTS BILL ON RATIFICATION OF AGREEMENT WITH BOSNIA

( Editorial: --> 3869 ) ZAGREB, May 14 (Hina) - At Thursday's session the Croatian government adopted a Bill on the ratification of an agreement between Croaia and Bosnia-Herzegovina on the establishment of an inter-state council for cooperation between the two countries. The agreement was signed in Zagreb in March and represents the first step in the creation of an institutional framework for the two countries' cooperation. The agreement stipulates that the inter-state cooperation council would perform tasks of consulting and coordinating activities to mutual interest, especially in foreign affairs, succession, fight against terrorism, illegal trade and international crime, the identification of the state border etc. The government accepted a decision on the initiation of a procedure for the signing of an agreement between Croatia and the Council of Europe's Fund for Social Development on a loan for the reconstruction of schools and the health infrastructure in eastern Slavonia. The loan would be over US$10 million, which amounts to a half of the total resources necessary for the reconstruction of 34 destroyed schools in the Vukovar-Srijem and Osijek-Baranja counties. The project of reconstruction of 18 health clinics and the equipment of three hospitals in eastern Slavonia costs about US$60 million. From the total cost, 44.43 per cent will be financed through the loan, while the rest will be set aside from the government budget. (hina) lm jn 141818 MET may 98