CRO PREMIER TALKS WITH BOSNIAN AUSTRIAN BYELORUSSIAN & EBRD REPS

ZAGREB, Nov 20 (Hina) - Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa on Friday held separate talks with the Foreign Minister of Austria, the Premier of Byelorussia, the secretary-general of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) , and the deputy chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers. The talks were held as part of a Central European Initiative summit taking place in Zagreb. After the talks with Bosnia's Boro Bosic, Matesa said the meeting with the Bosnian delegation had been a good opportunity to "review relations." We discussed everything that could be an additional factor for expediting all-round relations after the signing of a special relations agreement with the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BH) and an agreement on BH's use of Croatia's port of Ploce and Croatia's passage through BH's port of Neum, said Matesa. Pointing out that Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel was a trusted friend of Croatia, Matesa said talks with Schuessel focused on Croatia's relations with the European Union (EU), and on bilateral relations. "We were open to constructive cooperation and suggestions, but within the limits of Croatia's national interests, and within criteria applied to other EU member as well," said Matesa, adding however, "We fear there are double standards." In his talks with Byelorussian counterpart Sergej Stepanovic Ling, Premier Matesa concluded there existed mutual interests to expedite economic cooperation. Matesa assessed his talks with EBRD secretary-general Mario Costa as exceptionally successful. The two parties pointed out that all of EBRD's projects in Croatia had been successful, and that no project had betrayed EBRD's trust. "They think that is a very good thing and believe that it is a good foundation for future cooperation, which they see in further investing in banking, in small and medium-sized enterprise, and in the infrastructure," Matesa concluded. (hina) ha mm