CROATIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OPENS OFFICE IN MOSTAR

MOSTAR, June 25 (Hina) - The President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Nadan Vidosevic, opened an office of the Chamber in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar on Wednesday. The opening ceremony was attended by the Croatian President's special envoy for Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Bosnian Federation, Franjo Greguric, Economy Minister Nenad Porges, chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Economic Affairs Djuro Njavro, presidential adviser on economic affairs Franka Babic and presidents of 17 county chambers of commerce from Croatia. Vidosevic said that Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina had complementary economies "that should be developed as one economic whole." He recalled that Bosnia-Herzegovina was the first country with which Croatia had signed a free trade agreement. "Croatia wants to reduce the trade deficit with Bosnia-Herzegovina," he said. Vidosevic supported the continuation of cooperation between both central and regional chambers of commerce in Croatia and Herceg-Bosnia. "Old business ties should be restored," he said, adding that "the possibilities of establishing comparative business links are infinite." "We're primarily interested in the Croat corpus, but that does not exclude the (Moslem) partner in the Bosnian Federation nor other areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Vidosevic said. Greguric expressed hope for "speedier economic development to the benefit of Croats." Porges said that the opening of the Mostar office of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce would enable "further exploration of all possible forms of cooperation." The ceremony was also addressed by the head of the Hercegovina- Neretva cantonal government Mijo Brajkovic and Mostar Mayor Ivan Prskalo. Tuesday evening, Greguric and Vidosevic met business people from the Hercegovina-Neretva, Western Herzegovina and Herceg-Bosnia cantons for talks on the promotion of economic cooperation. (hina) vm 251416 MET jun 97