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)