MATESA ADDRESSES VIENNA CONFERENCE ON INVESTMENTS IN CROATIA

VIENNA, March 19 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa and the Austrian State Chancellor, Franz Vranitzky held speeches at Tuesday's conference on transactions and investments in Croatia which was organized by a Vienna-based specialized bank "Raiffeisen Investment AG". #L# Participating in the conference are around 200 representatives of the bank's business partners from Austria, Croatia, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, who are interested in investments and business transactions with Croatia. In his speech, Matesa said that Croatian economy did not lag behind other countries in transition, even despite the fact that Croatia had been exposed to aggression. This was shown by the fact that inflation in Croatia is 3%, the kuna is a stable currency and its convertibility had been achieved six months before the Czech Republic and almost one year before Slovenia, Matesa said. The legal status of foreign investments was the same as for domestic investments and the Croatian working citizens were highly skilled, which was a comparative advantage, Matesa said. Vranitzky stressed a positive development in the economic cooperation between Croatia and Austria. He expressed his belief that Austria could invest into Croatian tourism and industry, but it depended on when the European Union would include Croatia in its PHARE programme. (hina) lm jn 191610 MET mar 96