PARIS, September 21 (Beta) - Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic stated on Friday that he had submitted letter from Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic to OECD officials in charge of cooperation with southeastern Europe, officially requesting Yugoslavia's admission to the organization.

He pointed out that the OECD is a very influential organization involved in the fight against crime, reform of fiscal sector and economic policy.

In Paris, Djelic met with OECD experts on economic issues, with whom he discussed the economic situation and reforms in Yugoslavia. According to Djelic, OECD proposed to send a team of economic experts to Yugoslavia at the beginning of the next year, so that first reports could be made by autumn. In the meantime, Yugoslavia would receive various commission delegations which will work out "shorter reports on various topics", such as fiscal decentralization and monetary exchange rate policy.

"Today, we have reached an agreement allowing our employees and citizens to attend training courses in the Budapest OECD center," Djelic said.

During his visit with the director of OECD's anti-corruption program, Ellery Quion, it was agreed that Yugoslavia would be the next country to be visited by OECD experts, who will work out a strategy for the fight against corruption.

Djelic also met with the General Manager of the Council of Europe, Rainer Steckhan, and they discussed the rescheduling of Yugoslav debt to the bank worth EUR32 million. According to Djelic, they agreed that Yugoslavia repay its debt under highly favorable conditions, i.e. a ten-year deadline with a favorable medium-term interest rate.

Djelic stated that the bank's delegation should visit Belgrade on October 8 to examine conditions of debt rescheduling and new credits.

The finance minister voiced hope that the refugee problem and housing construction would be the main topics of the talks. With respect to those issues, he announced the initiation of a program worth EUR20 million of credit, which would be put to work at the beginning of 2002.