GRANIC AND BULGARIAN MINISTERS SIGN TWO AGREEMENTS

SOFIA, July 15 (Hina) - During his two-day official visit to Bulgaria, Croatian Foreign Minister signed two bilateral agreements on Tuesday. Granic and Bulgarian Finance Minister Muravey Radev signed a treaty on double tax avoidance whereas he and Agriculture Minister Vencislav Vrbanov signed a treaty on veterinary and sanitary control. Before the signing of the agreements, Granic and his Bulgarian counterpart Nadezda Mihailova held talks. Mihailova said they had considered bilateral issues and the situation in the southeast of Europe. She described as very useful information she had got from the Croatian party about the progress in the implementation of the Dayton accords. She also advocated the strengthening of cooperation between Bulgaria and Croatia. "We have held meaningful friendly talks on promotion of our ties, on Western integration processes and the situation in south-eastern Europe," Granic said and added that they were ready to begin negotiations on a free trade zone. Granic assessed that the development of economic relations between Zagreb and Sofia would be facilitated when an agreement on road and railway traffic was signed between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He added that his country and Bulgaria had close views on the situation in the southeast of Europe and that cooperation between the two countries would continue on all levels. (hina) mm mš 151815 MET jul 97