JAPAN INTERESTED IN LONG-TERM ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITH CROATIA

TOKYO, Dec 17 (Hina) - Japan is interested in long-term economic cooperation with Croatia, Minister of Trade and Industry Shinji Sato said in Tokyo on Tuesday during talks with Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic. The two ministers discussed the expansion of trade and possibilities of investment in the Croatian economy. The Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Japanese government's largest ministry with 12,000 employees, would take necessary steps to create conditions for long-term economic cooperation between Japan and Croatia, Sato said. A senior Trade and Industry Ministry delegation would visit Croatia next year to examine possibilities of cooperation, he added. Sato emphasized the interest of Japanese exporters in the northern Croatian Adriatic port of Rijeka and its road and rail communications with Central European countries where Japan is economically present. Granic stressed Croatia's interest in Japanese investments, for which there are stable and favourable conditions, and in technological cooperation. (hina) vm jn 171537 MET dec 96