ZAGREB, June 3 (Hina) - Croatia has to date signed bilateral free trade agreements with Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary and Macedonia and the deals are being implemented.
ZAGREB, June 3 (Hina) - Croatia has to date signed bilateral free
trade agreements with Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary and
Macedonia and the deals are being implemented.#L#
Some of such agreement, which have already been initialled and are
expected to be signed either in June or in September, are treaties
concluded with the European Union (a Stabilisation and Association
Agreement, SAA) and free trade agreements concluded with EFTA
member-countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and some other
countries.
As of the start of 2002 when the said agreements should come in
force, at least 85 percent of Croatia's trade will be covered by the
regime of free trade, an assistant to Croatian Economy Minister,
Olgica Spevec, told Hina on the phone.
Ms. Spevec said the agreement with Macedonia was signed in May 1997
and took effect in June that year. The free trade agreement between
Ljubljana and Zagreb, signed in late 1997, went into force in early
1998. The implementation of the deal with Bosnia, signed on 19
December 2000, has been going on since the start of 2001, and the
latest agreement, signed with Hungary on 22 February, took effect
on 1 April this year.
The next agreement of this kind is to be signed with the EFTA
(European Free Trade Agreement) including its member-states
Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Island and Norway, on 21 June. Its
implementation starts on 1 January 2002.
In late April, Croatia initialled documents with the Czech Republic
and Slovakia. The agreements are due to be signed this autumn and
take effect on 1 January next year as well.
Negotiations with Poland have been completed, and a free trade
agreement will be signed next month, but its implementation should
wait for the document's ratification by the Polish parliament, as
this European country does not have an institute of the temporary
implementation of such treaties, Spevec explained adding that the
free trade deal with Poland is likely to take effect in February or
March 2002.
Negotiations with Romania and Bulgaria are under way. With the
completion of those negotiations, Croatia can ask its admission
into the CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Agreement whose members
are Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary,
Romania and Bulgaria)
For Croatia, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the
EU is of the top priority, as the EU member-states account for 55
percent of Croatia's exchange of commodities. The SAA was
initialled on 14 May, and its signing is expected this autumn. The
document will become valid after its ratification by parliaments of
all the EU member-countries and the Croatian Sabor.
During its signing, however, a provisional agreement will be
concluded, which makes it possible for Croatia to see the
implementation of trade and transport provisions from the SAA as of
the start of 2002.
(hina) ms