The project is worth 290 million in all. The rest of the money will be provided by the Rijeka-Zagreb Motorway company (EUR30 million) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, through a EUR50 million loan.
The EIB loan will be repaid over 25 years with a five-year grace period and at an annual interest rate of 3.85 per cent.
Marija Pejcinovic Buric, state secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, said that Croatia would receive about EUR80 million from the PHARE programme for 2005. She added that Croatia would be able to draw EUR7 million more than initially planned thanks to well-prepared projects.
The government decided that an agreement on Macedonia's accession to the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) should take effect upon its signature rather than wait for ratification by the member states' parliaments.
The government heard a report on the implementation of the Constitutional Law on the Rights of the National Minorities, which found that more than KN45 million was spent for the implementation of the law in 2004, as against KN31.2 million in 2003.
The government supported a proposal for 15 February to be observed as National Child Cancer Day. Health Minister Neven Ljubicic said that every year more than 100 children in Croatia were registered as suffering from malignant diseases.