
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402050122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC                                LENGTH: Short

EX-COMMUNIST NATIONS TO FORM FREE TRADE ZONE

Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia agreed Friday to form a Central European Free Trade Zone within five years.

The agreement, known as CEFTA, was signed in 1992, but trade ministers from the four countries decided to speed up the liberalization process, which had been set at eight years.

The four nations are among the most economically advanced of the former Soviet satellites. CEFTA is also seen as a preliminary step to possible admission into the European Union of Western industrialized states. -

by CNB