CROATIAN ECONOMY MINISTER TALKS ABOUT RELATIONS WITH SLOVENIA

LJUBLJANA, Oct 22 (Hina) - Croatian Economy Minister Nenad Porges on Thursday expressed conviction that, despite some open issues between the two countries, there exist great possibilities of economic cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia that could be described by some as stagnating, especially considering the signed agreement on free trade. Porges spoke before Slovene business people on the island of Bled in Slovenia. According to Slovene information, Croatia's exports into Slovenia in the first eight months of this year have decreased by eight per cent, while Slovenia's exports into Croatia increased by the minimal 1.6 per cent. Even certain possibilities envisaged by the free trade agreement are not being realised. Porges stressed the cooperation between Croatia's company "Koncar" and Slovenia's "Lipostroj" in the reconstruction of hydroelectric power plants, as well as the possibility of cooperation in pharmaceutics. speaking about Croatian economic policy and joining world integration processes, Porges stressed that in some cases, Croatia was a hostage of Brussels politics, and such politics towards Croatia is very risky. Stimulation for economic cooperation need to be sought in Croatian reality, not by certain perceptions, Porges said. Replying to a representative of the Nova Ljubljanska Banka about alleged changes in the credit and country risks for Croatia, Porges said he had no such information, and added that the government and the Croatian National Bank would continue to do everything to maintain Croatia's established credibility. He stressed that Croatia fulfilled three out of four Maastricht criteria. (hina) lml