Addressing the press after the meeting, Wootton said that Croatia's forthcoming entry into the European Union would open up great business possibilities and that the country would become more visible on the investment horizon, especially to international investment funds.

Wootton said that in Croatia there was business talent whose development required good conditions and physical infrastructure, and that Britain had financial and technological expertise that could help Croatia.

The British business community has always had an interest in Croatia and now it should be boosted. Croatia must find a way to use its beauties and its geographical position, the mayor said, citing the Port of Rijeka and the need to connect it with the interior.

Wootton said that apart from major projects the City of London was also interested in cooperation between Croatian and British small and medium-sized enterprises. He announced that a group of Croatian business people from the IT sector would make a study trip to London next month.

Cacic said that they had discussed participation of British investors in major public-sector investment projects in Croatia. He recalled that during his visit to London in May, when he had attended a conference of the European Bank for Reconstruction of Development, he had presented to British business people the Croatian government's biggest investment projects and held several meetings on specific projects such as the reconstruction of the Plomin thermal power plant, public-private partnership projects, and monetisation of the debt of state-owned motorway operators Hrvatske Autoceste (HAC) and Autocesta Rijeka-Zagreb (ARZ), for which a public tender was issued today.

These projects were also discussed at today's meeting, as well as cooperation with one of the world's biggest consulting firms, WYG, which is opening its office in Zagreb. One of the first projects it will deal with will be the Zagreb on the Sava project, Cacic said.

When asked what model of monetisation of the HAC and ARZ debt was favourable to the government, Cacic said that the government wished to keep its ownership of the two companies, but would leave them to a concessionaire for management and maintenance for a one-off payment. The other two conditions are that changes in road tolls should follow the inflation rate and that after the expiry of the concession the motorways should be left in the same state of repair as they are today.

When asked if the government's investment plan had collapsed, given that the investment activity of the public companies was lower than planned, Cacic said that the government wanted to increase investments by the public companies by 80 per cent in relation to last year. He added that he believed it was feasible.

When asked what public-private partnership projects were being implemented or planned, he said that bids would be issued in November for the selection of private partners to rebuild schools in Varazdin County, Dubrovnik, Zagreb and the Medjimurje region, and also to rebuild several hospitals and court buildings in west Zagreb. The projects are worth 1.8 billion kuna in all.