SLOVENE PARLIAMENT DELEGATION VISITS ZAGREB

ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - A delegation of the Slovene parliament's economic affairs committee, headed by chairman Feri Horvat, met in Zagreb on Thursday with the chairman of the Croatian parliament's committee for economic affairs, reconstruction and development, Dragan Kovacevic. Foreign trade between Croatia and Slovenia totalled USD 1.4 billion in 1995, which was an increase compared to 1994 figures but still below pre-war trade levels. Croatian deficit amounted to USD 296 million, the meeting said. Kovacevic told reporters that the talks focused on ways of removing obstacles to a better and more intensive economic cooperation between the two countries, including the problems of Ljubljanska Banka's debt to Croatian depositors, further work of the Krsko nuclear power plant, property relations and reciprocal protection of workers' rights. Noting that Croatia and Slovenia had very similar views on how to step up economic cooperation, Horvat said that the signing of agreements on free trade, investment protection, avoidance of double taxation and cross-border traffic would contribute to increasing trade between the two countries. (hina) vm mm 041521 MET apr 96