CROATIAN ECONOMY PRESENTED AT PARIS MEETING

PARIS, Dec 10 (Hina) - The central French association of entrepreneurs and companies - "MEDEF" - held a seminar dedicated to Croatia in Paris on Thursday. The seminar, which attracted some 80 French business people, focused on the current situation in the Croatian economy, development strategies and reconstruction programmes, as well as on possibilities of direct foreign investment. The meeting was addressed by the Croatian ministers of economy and tourism, Nenad Porges and Sergej Morsan, and the Croatian National Bank Governor Marko Skreb. The event was opened by the president of the international MEDEFA directorate, Francois Perigot. This association, which promotes economic cooperation between France and other countries, will soon organise a visit of a group of French business people to Croatia. The large number of French entrepreneurs which attended today's seminar bears witness to their increasing interest in Croatia's economy. Those entrepreneurs, who are already operating in Croatia, stressed Croatia's monetary stability and strict abidance by international contractual and financial commitments. What discourages them most is "red-tapism", which is sometimes caused by political interference in individual economic activities, they said. According to French business people, there is a real prospect for the promotion of economic relations primarily in Croatia's road development projects, reconstruction projects in general, telecommunications, and tourism. Tourism Minister Morsan outlined the strategy of long-term tourism development, adopted recently by the Croatian Government. (hina) rml