TALKS ON PLOCE PORT AND NEUM TO RESUME IN SARAJEVO ON THURSDAY

ZAGREB, Oct 1 (Hina) - Croatia's and Bosnian Federation's working groups will resume negotiation on an agreement on how the Croat- Moslem Federation will be able to use the Croatian port of Ploce at the Adriatic sea and on an agreement that will enable unimpeded passage through the Neum area, which is a short stretch of the Adriatic coast belonging to the Federation. The negotiations will be held in Sarajevo on Thursday. According to a statement by the Croatian economy ministry, talks will be conducted in the presence of a U.S. legal and political expert group. After Wednesday's meeting with American representatives in Zagreb, the Croatian party described a U.S. draft agreement as a useful suggestion but said that it could not serve as the starting point for Thursday's talks in Sarajevo. The Sarajevo talks will be based on a joint statement issued by U.S. diplomats Holbrooke and Gelbard after this summer's meeting between Presidents Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic in Split, and on provisional agreements signed in May 1996. The Croatian economy ministry emphasised that the purpose of the negotiations was to preserve the spirit of the Washington and Dayton agreements and to strengthen economic cooperation. The head of the Croatian working group to the Sarajevo negotiations is Economy Minister Nenad Porges. (hina) jn mš 012211 MET oct 97