CROATIAN GOVT ADOPTS BILL RATIFYING NORMALIZATION AGREEMENT

ZAGREB, Sept 5 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday adopted a bill ratifying the agreement on the normalization of relations with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and sent it to Parliament for consideration. Foreign Minister Mate Granic said that the agreement had been temporarily applied since August 23 when it was signed and that it would enter into force after it had been ratified by the competent bodies of the two countries. Granic announced that Croatia and Yugoslavia would exchange notes on establishing diplomatic relations on September 9. Concerning the implementation of the normalization agreement, the government passed a decree suspending the law on the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against the Yugoslav Federation of Serbia and Montenegro. A bill with the identical text was sent to Parliament for consideration under urgent procedure. Deputy Economy Minister Jasna Boric said that a decision on the final lifting of the sanctions would be made after the UN Security Council passed such a resolution. As part of a strategy of the development of a road network in the country, the government is planning to build eigh highways and 15 fast roads worth a total of 94 billion kuna. In the next ten years it will be necessary to earmark 44 billion kuna for priority routes. The government adopted the Media Bill and sent it back to Parliament for the third reading. The government earmarked 500,000 kuna for the Jastrebarsko area for damage inflicted by a storm and a further 496,000 kuna for the Zadar area for damage done by a whirlwind. The Virovitica area was granted 2 million and the Pozega area 1 million kuna for damage inflicted by recent floods. (hina) vm jn 051808 MET sep 96