AMERICAN BUSINESS PEOPLE DISCUSS INVESTMENTS IN CROATIA

ZAGREB, Feb 21 (Hina) - Leading Croatian business people and representatives of three American corporations producing infrastructural objects, "ENRON", "ENSERCH Develop. Corp." and "BECHTEL" on held talks in Zagreb on Friday about the possibilities of investing into Croatia. They held a seminar which was organized by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce and president of the American construction company "con-Weld", Zdenka Gast, under the headline "Why to Invest in Croatia?". In their address, president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Nadan Vidosevic, Interior Minister Davor Stern, Zdenka Gast, US Ambassador to Croatia, Peter Galbraith and Croatian Ambassador to the US, Miomir Zuzul, described political relations between Croatia and the US as exceptionally good and that they had to be supplemented by the stimulation of economic potentials of both countries to a greater cooperation than the one so far. "The American Administration supported current negotiations between Croatian and American companies about the construction of three important infrastructural objects," Zuzul said. He announced that the Croatian embassy in the US would organize a visit of a delegation of interested business people to the United Sates in Autumn. Gast said that representatives of three American companies were negotiating with Croatian businessmen about the construction of an addition to the "Jertovac" gas-fired thermal power plant, the construction of the "Lukovo-Sugarje" coal-fired thermal power plant, and the construction of the Bregana-Zagreb road, which, Gast said, should be the first section of the future road towards Split. The projects were worth between US$ 1.5 billion and 2 billion, Gast. Commenting negotiations with Croatian electric energy supply company, president and main director of the "EMRPN" corporation, Joseph W. Sutton - one of the largest world companies for natural gas - said that Croatia needed more energy than it was producing at the moment. Sutton described the Croatian market as prosperous and interesting. (hina) lm jn 211708 MET feb 97