CRO TRANSPORT MINISTER ATTENDS CONFERENCE IN PRAGUE

ZAGREB, Mar 21 (Hina) - Croatian Transport Minister Zeljko Luzavec on Thursday and Friday attended the Sixth Conference of Transport Ministers of Central Europe, held in Prague, the Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications said in a statement on Friday. During the conference, the transport ministers of Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic adopted a declaration which stressed the significance of further expanding infrastructure projects on the Croatian territory, as part of the projects for Central Europe, the statement added. Luzavec pointed out the problems and possibilities of further developing transport connections in Central Europe, and explained the importance of corridors from Western Europe, passing through Krapina and Zagreb towards Split, on the southern Adriatic coast, as well as the route from the Italian port of Trieste across the Croatian coast of the Adriatic, leading through Dubrovnik to Albania and Greece. The most important was the connection of Central Europe with the Croatian port of Rijeka, through Budapest and Zagreb, and the route from the Hungarian border through Osijek, Sarajevo and Mostar, to the southern Croatian port of Ploce, Luzavec said. The ministers also adopted a Resolution on Transport, to be discussed at the next pan-European conference on transport, to take place in Helsinki in June. The significance of Croatia's geographic position within the frame of transport connections in Central Europe was pointed out in the ministers' decision on the "improvement of the necessary connections among the member-countries of this conference, especially in relation to the territory of the Republic of Croatia". This was another step towards the correction of earlier oversights, when Croatia was somehow "left out" at the 1994 conference of transport ministers from Central Europe, the statement concluded. (hina) ha jn 211859 MET mar 97