04/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - Christian Mandl of the Austrian Economic Chamber has stated in a press release that when it decides on opening accession negotiations with Croatia, the European Union must take due account of the fact that postponing these negotiations would mean that the date planned for accession- 2009- would no longer be possible. This would be a great shame for the EU and the Austrian economy, as well as for Croatia, which has “already wasted so much time compared to its neighbour, Slovenia”, said the Wirtschaftskammer official, who flagged up the close economic ties between Croatia and Austria. We are the number one investor in Croatia and Austrian business is represented in virtually all sectors in the country, which can therefore be seen as a kind of “extended domestic market”, noted Mr Mandl, adding that according to estimations, Austria has a trade surplus of around 660 million EUR with Croatia, which is one of the highest in the world.