Tuesday, 19 March 1996 Volume 1, Issue 310

BUSINESS NEWS
_____________

> ----------------------------------------
BONBON TO PAY EIGHT PCT DIVIDEND ON 1995
> ----------------------------------------
Hungarian retailer Bonbon Hemingway Kereskedelmi Rt said that
having conferred with its majority owner Hemingway Holding its
management will propose the payout of an eight percent dividend
on the 1995 results, at the expense of reserves.  Bonbon paid a
15 percent dividend on the 1994 results.  Bonbon posted three
million forints of losses in 1995, shifting into the red from a
pre-tax profit of 45.6 million forints in 1994, Bonbon said in a
statement.  However, the last three months showed an 28 percent
increase in sales compared to the basic period, it added.  On
the Budapest Stock Exchange Bonbon ended at 700 forints on March
13, the last day when it was traded.


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date=3/19/96
type=background report
number=5-32752
title=East Euro Security
byline=Barry Wood
dateline=Prague
content=
voiced at:

Intro:  U-S secretary of state Warren Christopher Wednesday meets
in Prague with his counterparts from 12 post-communist countries
of East and Central Europe.  V-o-A's Barry Wood reports the
meeting will focus on NATO expansion and European security.

Text:  An American official described the meeting as an
opportunity to assure the East Europeans NATO expansion will go
forward and  not  be held hostage to Russian opposition.

The 16 members of the North Atlantic Alliance agreed as early as
1994 expansion into Central and Eastern Europe will take place.
That commitment has been categorically restated ever since.
Membership negotiations with some countries are expected to begin
in 1997 -- but  no  timetable or determination has been made as
to which countries will be first to join.

Secretary of state Christopher will be meeting the foreign
ministers of countries that feel vulnerable to a perceived
security vacuum in the middle of Europe.

Among most of the post-communist countries, there is fear of a
resurgent Russia and deep worry the United States and other
western powers will go slow on NATO expansion in order  not  to
anger Moscow.  Most political parties in Russia as well as most
leading candidates in the june presidential election vehemently
oppose NATO expansion, seeing it as a threat to Russian security.

Secretary Christopher will travel from Prague (Thursday) to
Moscow for discussions with the new hard line foreign minister
Yevgeny Primakov.  On Wednesday Mr. Christopher delivers an
address on the future of security in Europe.

In the audience at the Czech foreign ministry will be the foreign
ministers of 12 countries.  They include the three countries
considered most likely to the first to join NATO -- the Czech
Republic, Poland and Hungary.  Other prospective applicants --
Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, the three Baltic States, Slovenia,
Macedonia, and Albania -- will also be present.  // Opt //
Following the conference the ministers will have lunch at the
American Embassy.  // End opt //

This week the issue of NATO expansion has taken on more urgency
for some prospective applicants.  The recent vote in the Russian
Duma calling to reconstitute the old Soviet Union has alarmed the
Baltic States as well as Ukraine.  In Riga the Latvian president
says membership in the European Union must  not  be seen as an
alternative to NATO membership.

There is worry likewise in Vilnius, where the visiting Norwegian
prime minister says Norway will support Lithuania's efforts to
join NATO.  // Opt // In Prague Czech foreign minister Josef
Zieleniec says geography makes the security of the Czech Republic
identical with that of Western Europe.  Mr. Zieleniec says the
logic of these security considerations make a persuasive case for
the Czech Republic being among the first group of countries to
join NATO.  // End opt //

NATO has established criteria for membership and many prospective
applicants are diligently seeking conformity with those
conditions.  They include upholding democratic principles, having
market economies, having military forces under civilian control,
good relations with neighboring states and military compatibility
with NATO forces.  (Signed)

neb/bdw/aden/cf

19-Mar-96 11:16 am est (1616 utc)
nnnn

source: Voice of America