The Croatian government and the Hungarian oil and gas group MOL began talks on their relations within the Croatian oil and gas company INA in Zagreb on Wednesday morning.
The government's negotiating team consists of Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak and the head of the State Property Management Office, Mladen Pejnovic. The Hungarian company is represented by MOL's deputy CEO Sandor Csanyi and INA's CEO Zoltan Aldott.
The talks are expected to focus on management of INA, investments and the gas business.
The government, which holds 44.84% of shares in INA, said last month it expected INA to be run in accordance with Croatian laws as well as its development as Croatia's leading energy company.
MOL, which owns 49.08% of shares in INA, said recently that it did not want to give up management control of INA and expected resolution of the gas business problem. It stressed it was ready to sue Croatia and demand at least 2 billion kuna ($351 million) in damages for Croatia's failure to take over INA's loss-making gas business or apply market prices, which it agreed to do in 2009.
