US348 MILLION DIRECTLY INVESTED IN CROATIA IN 1997

ZAGREB, Nov 10 (Hina) - In 1977, $US348 million were invested in Croatia, on Tuesday the Croatian Agency for Advertising Investments (HAPU) said in Zagreb, presenting the 1998 World Investment Report. The report, which was been presented on Tuesday across the world, reads that in 1997, the total amount of foreign investments was $US400 billion. The report is published each year by the UN Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), based in Geneve. The report placed Croatia in the "developing Europe" group, despite constant objections by HAPU representatives that Croatia belongs to the group of countries from Central and Eastern Europe. Also placed in "developing Europe" are Slovenia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Macedonia, Malta and "former Yugoslavia". According to the Croatian National Bank's data, from 1993 to mid 1998, $US1.78 billion had been directly invested in Croatia. Thirty percent of that money was invested by the United States ($US1.78 billion), followed by Austria with 16.8 percent and Germany with 7,7 percent. The investment money was divided from 1993 to 1997 as followed; pharmacy production was granted one fourth, 23.2 percent was granted to commercial banks, 10.5 percent to cement production and 6.2 percent to the production of glass utensils. The press conference announced that a traditional annual meeting of Central European Initiative member countries would be held on November 19-21, in Zagreb. The first economic forum of member countries is to be held as a part of the meeting, and as expected it will gather more than 400 businessmen. The forum will be followed by a conference on foreign investments, meeting of member countries' chambers of commerce, as well as a round table regarding financial sources for investment projects. (hina) it jn/sp