CROATIAN AND CHINESE OIL COMPANIES TO EXPAND BUSINESS COOPERATION

ZAGREB, June 10 (Hina) - The Chinese and Croatian oil companies SINOCHEM and INA agreed during talks in Zagreb on Tuesday to expand their business cooperation to research and oil production in third countries. On Wednesday, their representatives are expected to sign an agreement on business cooperation and joint projects in third countries. Today's talks also involved Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa, who described political relations between Croatia and China as very good. He added that the agreement between the two companies was very important since the economic relations between China and Croatia were not sufficiently developed. Matesa recalled that SINOCHEM was one of the leading suppliers of crude oil for Croatia's needs during the war. Noting that SINOCHEM and INA have cooperated successfully since 1984, SINOCHEM President Zheng Dunxun said that his company wanted to use Croatia and INA as a centre for expanding its business operations to Central and Eastern Europe. INA Director General Davor Stern said that under the agreement that would be signed on Wednesday INA would purchase about 2.5 million tonnes of oil from SINOCHEM this year, which would cover a little more than 50 per cent of overall Croatian needs. Stern said that the two companies would launch joint research and oil production projects in Russia. SINOCHEM is one of China's leading companies which generated 18 billion dollars in revenues in 1996. In the afternoon, the Chinese delegation was received by Economy Minister Nenad Porges. (hina) vm jn 101823 MET jun 97