CRO PREMIER MEETS INDONESIAN PRESIDENT

JAKARTA, Feb 27 (Hina) - Croatia and Indonesia had good political relations and would attempt to strengthen the currently undeveloped economic cooperation, Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa said on Thursday after his meeting with Indonesian President Suharto in Jakarta. Matesa informed Suharto about the situation in the region, the completion of the process of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area and the implementation of the Dayton and Washington accords. He also pointed out that Croatia was interested in developing relations with all ASEAN countries, Indonesia in particular. Indonesia's relations with Croatia were significant, Suharto said, adding that a consul would soon be appointed in Zagreb. The current Indonesian ambassador to Croatia is based in Budapest, while Croatia opened its Embassy in Jakarta in 1995. The Croatian and Indonesian delegations talked about possibilities of improving economic cooperation between the two countries. The leader of the Croatian delegation, Economy Minister Davor Stern, told reporters that the talks focused on cooperation in the fields of oil and gas, shipbuilding, pharmaceutics, tourism and air transport. He stressed the significance of continuing with negotiations on the allocation of four concessions to Croatian oil industry INA for the research of oil and gas in Indonesia. The Indonesian side showed interest for Croatia to be the centre for the distribution of Indonesia's palm oil to Central and Eastern Europe. The Croatian Premier today also visited the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce where, presenting the Croatian economy, he stressed that to Indonesian businessmen Croatia offered a stable currency, a low inflation rate and the possibility for the repatriation of revenues. Aburizal Bakrie, president of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and one of the country's richest businessmen, said that, if Croatia wanted to act as the leading centre for Indonesia's penetration of the Central and Eastern European markets, as well as of the European Union, it should resort to a more aggressive presentation in Indonesia. (hina) ha jn 271405 MET feb 97