RI and Croatian executives talk trade

RI and Croatian executives talk trade

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian and Croatian businessmen met here
yesterday to see if they could develop natural gas pipelines in
Croatia and trade more coal.

Chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce Aburizal Bakrie
told reporters during a break at the meeting that Croatia planned
to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Indonesia, and that it
wanted Indonesian companies to help it develop pipelines to
distribute gas domestically and to neighboring countries, such as
Slovenia, Bosnia and Italy.

Croatia will also establish an LNG receiving terminal, he
said.

Aburizal, also chairman of the Bakrie Group, said he was
interested in helping develop the receiving terminal and
pipelines if Croatia could also sell natural gas to Italy.

He said he was interested in selling coal and building
materials to Croatia, which is rebuilding about one million homes
which were devastated by war.

Aburizal said Croatia was a promising market for Indonesian
products because it was a gateway to the European market.

The managing director for international relations of the
Croatian Chamber of Economy, Dunja Konjevod, said that Croatia
had established a trade zone to attract foreign investors to help
restore the country's economy after the war.

She said her country of four million people had reformed its
trade regulations since 1993 to attract investors.

Croatia's exports last year reached US$4.7 billion, while its
imports were $7.5 billion. The country's economy is projected to
grow by between 5 percent and 8 percent this year. (02)