MEETING ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY IN E. SLAVONIA HELD NEAR OSIJEK

OSIJEK ( Editorial: --> 4159 ) OSIJEK, 27 Nov (Hina) - A two-day international meeting of scientists and experts, entitled "The Strategy of Economic Development of Eastern Croatia", started in Bizovacke Toplice on Thursday. The meeting was organised by the Osijek County Chamber and county offices of the Croatian Society of Economists and the Croatian Marketing Society. Most of the 39 participants are from Osijek County. The meeting will be attended also by representatives from Vukovar and Slavonski Brod Counties, from Zagreb, Opatija, Split and Rijeka, as well as by three representatives from Hungary. In his introductory speech, Assistant Reconstruction and Development Minister Ivan Krstanovic supported the development of new economic infrastructure based on activities which are interesting to the market. In order to achieve that aim, economic subjects in the Danube river region need ownership transformation, as well as privatisation, which could not be implemented earlier since the assessment of the property of companies in the area was not possible, Krstanovic added. The establishment of Croatian authority in the Danube river region was a precondition for the establishment of economic sovereignty in the area, said vice chairman of the National Committee for the Establishment of Trust, Ivica Vrkic. The time of the reintegration processes had come to an end, Vrkic said, adding that one should turn to the revival of the region. Displaced Croats would not be able to return in large numbers to the region until security and stable economic conditions are created, he said. Participants in the meeting will discuss important elements of economic reconstruction and development of eastern Slavonia as well as strategic guidelines of reconstruction and development of the food industry and other economic branches in the region. (hina) rm 271652 MET nov 97