INCUMBENT CROATIAN ECONOMY MINISTER TO BE INA DIRECTOR GENERAL

ZAGREB, March 24 (Hina) - Croatian Economy Minister Davor Stern would be appointed the director general of the Croatian Oil Company (INA), and the incumbent director Andrija Kojakovic would resume the post of the Croatian Ambassador to the Great Britain, Premier Zlatko Matesa said at a regular news conference on Monday. At the very beginning of the conference participants and journalists observed a minute of silence in memory of Homeland War dead veterans and civil victims. Announcing that Stern would be the INA director general, Premier Matesa said the current Economy Minister had great experience in oil industry and voiced hope that he would contribute to the progress of INA as a central European oil company and its entrance to the London market by 1999. Matesa added that he would propose a new Economy Minister to Croatian President within next seven days. The head of the INA supervisory board, Hrvoje Sarinic, who also attended the Government's news conference, told journalists that Kojakovic was one of the best INA directors who had helped to carry out thorough legal and organisational restructuring of the company. Sarinic announced that INA would soon export ecological diesel fuel. Asked to comment on the fact that Croatia's Finance Minister Bozo Prka and National Bank Governor Marko Skreb were proclaimed the best finance minister and central bank governor in central and eastern Europe by the British magazine 'Central European', Matesa said he was very proud of the awards for the two Croatian officials. He said to journalists that he would leave for the United States at the beginning of the following week, at an invitation by the U.S. Administration to be present at a commemoration of the first anniversary of the tragic death of a former U.S. Trade Secretary Ron Brown. (hina) jn mš 241319 MET mar 97