Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, March 5 (CP) – According to information in the Croatian media US president George W. Bush will be visiting Zagreb on April 4, following the NATO summit in Bucharest and will meet with Croatian senior officials on April 5.

Zagreb is already gearing up for the probable visit of the US president in April, although the visit has not been confirmed by the White House, logistical preparations are already in full swing on both the Croatian and the US sides.

If Bush decides to stay the night, he will be either accommodated at the US Embassy in Zagreb, which is best equipped to cater to his needs, but that would imply that Zagreb was not able to organise a safe visit for the US president.

On the other hand, if Bush were to be accommodated at a hotel, the only one that meets the criteria is the Westin Hotel, but this would mean the evacuation of the hotel a few days prior to the arrival so that US intelligence teams can move in.

Croatia’s intelligence services will also be invovled in the effort and the security plan will be agreed only when an advance party of US intelligence officers arrives for consultations prior to the visit.

Bush is not planned to visit any other Croatian city, but the capital Zagreb.

Zagreb, March 5 (CP) – The EU Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, is arriving in Croatia today for an official two-day visit.

Rehn is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, deputy Prime Ministers Djurdja Adlesic and Slobodan Uzelac, finance minister Ivan Šuker and Justice minister Ana Lovrin during his stay in Zagreb.

Topics of discussion are expected to cover Croatian progress in efforts to join the union and the European Commission’s Communication Action Plan for the Western Balkans.

Zagreb, March 5 (CP) – The 13th GAST International Fair made up of a string of specialised fairs opened in the coastal town of Split on Wednesday.

The fair specialises in food, beverages, hotelier and catering equipment and is a place where the logistics for the upcoming tourist season are secured.

This year the fair is to showcase some 1,269 exhibitors from 21 countries, the partner-country being Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The GAST closes on March 9.

Zagreb, March 5 (CP) – In a telephone conversation on Wednesday morning, the Croatian PM Ivo Sanader and his Slovene counterpart Janez Jansa discussed the state of bilateral relations and the continuation of the implementation of the Bled agreements.

The two agreed that the respective commissions set up on both sides after the Bled meeting begin working more intensively and that their first joint meeting be held as soon as possible.

The two PMs have agreed that all activities that might hamper the work of the committee should be avoided.

The Bled meeting focusing on resolving border issues between the two countries was held on August 26, 2007.

Zagreb, March 4 (CP) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission head in Croatia Robert Feldman has said that although Croatia had made certain progress over the past year, it will be hard to reach the planned economic growth rate of six percent in the coming years.

IMF is expecting Croatia’s economic growth for this year to slow down to about 4 percent, while it is expecting an annual inflation rate of 5.5 percent.

The deficit of the current account of the payment balance is expected to stand at nine percent GDP, while the segment of Croatian foreign debt in GDP is expected to stand at 87.5 percent.

Zagreb, March 4 (CP) — A Rijeka worker Aleksandar Damis has had his fist severed by a machine and it has been put back into place by surgeons at the Rijeka Susak hospital during a 9-hour operation on Tuesday.

The worker had alerted some vendors in a shop as soon as the accident happened and he was quickly ferried to hospital by an ambulance that arrived quickly.

There is a high probability of him regaining the full use of his fist after post-operative therapy.

Zagreb, March 4 (CP) — Croatia’s foreign debt has grown by €3.7 billion during 2007 and stood at €32.9 billion at the end of 2007, reports the central bank (HNB).

The annual growth has been slowed down from 13.7 percent in 2006 to 12.5 percent in 2007. Also, the structure of foreign debt has changed, as well as the contribution of certain sectors to its growth.

Corporate debt has increased sharply, as companies often decided to take out loans directly abroad. Local banks have under the influence of central bank measures considerably cut their foreign obligations, while the state sector foreign debt has been unchanged since end of 2006.

Zagreb, March 4 (CP) – A 14-year old boy is fighting for life after has setting himself on fire at school on Monday in the Croatian northern town of Varazdin.

The teenager is said to have arrived early for his classes and used the toiled coming out drenched in accelerant.

He then set himself alight in the school hall with teachers running to his aid and trying to put out the fire with coats that were hanging in the hall.

The boy was taken to hospital where it was established he suffered serious burns and is now in intensive care.

It is still not clear why the boy did this, but there are speculations that it might have been for unrequited love.
 

Zagreb, March 4 (CP) — Croatia is in 34th place out of 130 according to the competitiveness of its tourism and has climbed up four places from last year, claims the latest report by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland tops the list, while trailing are Austria and Germany.

Croatia’s best features are said to be its human resources quality, cultural and natural assets.

Tourism makes up about 22 percent of the country’s GDP and about 40 percent of total exports.

Zagreb, March 4 (CP) — The State Office for Protection Against Radiation has confirmed speculations that radioactive steel has ended up in Croatia.

It has been stressed that there was no danger of radioactivity spreading, but admitted that the concentration of radioactivity was higher than standards allowed and that the steel must be disposed of.
The steel was first discovered in Italy where it had arrived from China and some of it ended up in Croatia and was used for an industrial container.