CROATIAN ECONOMY MINISTER RECEIVES CZECH AMBASSADOR

( Editorial: --> 8835 ) ZAGREB, Dec 16 (Hina) - Croatian Tourism Minister Sergej Morsan on Tuesday received Czech Ambassador to Croatia Ondrej Havlin and Second Secretary of the Czech Embassy Vaclav Mleziva. The officials described tourism cooperation between the two countries as excellent. With 4.2 million overnight stays in the first ten months of this year, or 71 per cent more than in the same period last year, Czech tourists were the second largest group of foreign visitors to spend their holidays in Croatia, after Germans and before Italians and Slovenians, the Economy Ministry said in a statement. The two sides reached agreement on signing an already initialled protocol on tourism cooperation. The Czech officials supported Croatia's bid to enter the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and other European organisations. (hina) vm mm 161823 MET dec 97