CROATIAN AND TURKISH PRESIDENT HOLD TALKS (PART ONE)

ANKARA, Feb 7 (Hina) - Croatia and Turkey are determined to continue to develop their good political relations and advocate the promotion of economic ties, Croatian and Turkish presidents Stipe Mesic and Ahmet Necdet Sezer said after talks in Ankara on Wednesday. As the head of a Croatian delegation, President Mesic on Wednesday morning arrived in a two-day official visit to Turkey. Mesic was welcomed outside of the President's palace Cankaya in Ankara. "There are no open issues between Turkey and Croatia," Mesic told reporters after the talks. "During the talks, we established the points of cooperation between our two countries, while competent ministries will discuss cooperation in detail with their Turkish counterparts", Mesic said. Turkish President Sezer expressed satisfaction that he was able to host President Mesic, whom he met at the 50th anniversary of the United Nations, in New York last autumn. According to the Turkish President, the talks focused on economic cooperation between the two countries. We also discussed the encouragement of the participation of Turkish companies in the privatisation process in Croatia and joint presentations of our companies at foreign markets, Sezer said. He stressed that both countries were interested in cooperation in tourism, adding it was necessary to accelerate talks on the signing of a free trade agreement. (TO BE CONTINUED...) (hina) it