CROATIA SHOULD ACCESS WTO BEFORE 3RD MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE

( Editorial: --> 8145 ) ZAGREB, June 1 (Hina) - Croatia should end negotiations about its access into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the organisation's third ministerial conference at the end of next year, Croatian Economy Minister Nenad Porges and WTO representative Arif Hussain said in Zagreb on Monday. Hussain is on a three day visit to Zagreb at Porges's invitation. During his stay, he will hold talks with many Croatian senior officials. "Croatia has the obligation to protect everything that is necessary for access by next spring, so that the technical part of the accession could end before the next ministerial conference," Porges told reporters. Hussain expressed strong conviction that the next two years represented a golden chance for Croatia to enter the WTO. He said Croatia must enter the organisation before the third ministerial conference. In that case Croatia would participate in the conference as full member, he said. Besides, he added, the WTO will then resume multilateral negotiations, so the governments of member countries will be oriented towards this task and Croatia's accession issue will be postponed for reasons beyond the WTO's control. Porges stressed that if Croatia could not enter the WTO before the third ministerial conference, it would lose its chance to access the organisations under the same conditions as present. Most issues surrounding the access of Croatia we can solve this year, by bilateral talks and multilateral working groups, Porges said. Hussain added that access into the WTO represented a process of profound economic reforms, and Croatia was determined to reform its economic system by itself. (hina) lml 011853 MET jun 98