U.S. CONGRESSMAN ROHRBACHER SUPPORTS CROATIA'S ADMISSION TO NATO

WASHINGTON, Jan 20(Hina) - U.S. congressman Dana Rohrbacher expressed support for Croatia's admission to NATO during talks with Croatia's Parliament President Vladimir Seks and Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul in Washington on Tuesday.#L# Seks and Zuzul are visiting the United States at Congress' invitation in bids to win its support for a fast entry into NATO. The first in a series of meetings with congressmen and senators was today with Rohrbacher, who hails from California and is on the House of Representatives Committee on International Relations. Speaking to reporters after the talks, Rohrbacher said the U.S. wanted peace in the Balkans and that he believed Croatia's membership of NATO was key for the preservation of peace in the Balkans. Foreign Minister Zuzul said he was satisfied with the talks and that Rohrbacher was a friend of Croatia who had been supporting it since the very beginnings of its independence. "I believe in the firm support of the U.S Congress, I believe that we can make big steps forward starting from today," Zuzul told reporters. He said Croatia "will try to obtain resolutions from the U.S. Congress House of Representatives and Senate whereby the U.S. Congress would express clear support for Croatia's full membership of NATO". He added that the adoption of the resolution before the NATO summit in Istanbul this summer would constitute "a big success and a big step forward". Seks said Croatia hoped the U.S. would show understanding for and help it deal with "the serious economic difficulties" it faced. (Hina) ha sb