MATESA RECEIVES INCOMING BULGARIAN, ROMANIAN, SWEDISH AMBASSADORS

ZAGREB, 15 Oct (Hina) - The Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa on Wednesday held separate meetings with the incoming ambassadors of Romania, Bulgaria and Sweden. Matesa and the Romanian Ambassador Constantin Ghirda agreed that there were no open questions between Croatia and Romania but added that one should pay more attention to the economic cooperation. Trade between Romania and Croatia is modest (by the end of the year it will reach the amount of $30 to 35 million), but it is showing a tendency to continual growth. Ghirda conveyed greetings of the Romanian Premier and reiterated an official invitation for Matesa to visit Romania. Matesa accepted the invitation, saying he and a group of Croatian business people could visit Romania in the first half of December. Bulgaria's Ambassador Velizar Encev stated that Croatia and Bulgaria not only had friendly relations but were strategic partners. Their bilateral relations should change radically, since the current government, unlike the former one, had a very favourable attitude towards Croatia, Encev said. As a 'great friend of Croatia', who as a Bulgarian television correspondent from Belgrade witnessed the Vukovar tragedy, Encev proposed that Bulgarian constructors reconstruct one building in Vukovar, within the reconstruction program. The idea was interesting and acceptable and it should be discussed with the Reconstruction and Development Ministry, Matesa said. Matesa expressed satisfaction with the fact that it was exactly Encev who was appointed new ambassador to Croatia because of his excellent knowledge of the situation and political developments in the region and further. The meeting with the Swedish Ambassador Ingemar Borjesson started with a discussion on minority rights, as in 1992 Borjesson had visited Vojvodina as an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitor for Croat minority in Subotica. Croatia was securing minority rights which were sometimes well above European standards, Matesa said, adding that the treatment of minorities in Croatia and Yugoslavia was very different. He stressed the discrepancy in the concern of the international community for Croats in Vojvodina and Serbs in Croatia. Borjesson congratulated Matesa on progress Croatia had made in the field of economic and political stability. As far as bilateral relations are concerned, political relations are behind economic relations (Sweden is the fourth most important investor in Croatia), Borjesson said. Matesa wished all three ambassadors a pleasant stay in Croatia and promised full support of the Croatian government for their work. (hina) rm 151345 MET oct 97