CROATIAN AMBASSADOR HANDS CREDENTIALS TO LATVIAN PRESIDENT

STOCKHOLM, Aug 19 (Hina) - Croatia's Ambassador to Sweden, Mladen Ibler, handed his credentials to Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis on Tuesday. During the talks, Ibler and Ulmanis expressed a mutual interest in deepening the bilateral cooperation. The Latvian president was invited to visit Croatia, which he accepted with pleasure. Ibler also held talks with Parliament Speaker Alfreds Chepanis, Foreign Minister Valdis Birkavs and Culture Minister Ramona Umblia. Chepanis expressed interest in the events in Croatia, showing a great understanding and support for its development and efforts to get closer to European institutions. He also accepted an invitation to visit Croatia. Ibler and Birkavs repeated an initiative for a meeting of senior foreign ministry officials of the two countries and exchanged the draft texts of several bilateral agreements. The Croatian ambassador visited one of Latvia's leading tourist agencies which had started organising charter flights to Croatia this year. Ibler expressed support and offered assistance for ambitious plans of the agency which had invested substantial funds in the promotion of tourist travels to Croatia in the Baltic countries. (hina) vm 192146 MET aug 97