ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said during Question Time in parliament on Tuesday that during a recent visit of a Croatian delegation to the United States there had been no talk of Croatia sending its troops to
Iraq.
ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said during Question
Time in parliament on Tuesday that during a recent visit of a Croatian
delegation to the United States there had been no talk of Croatia
sending its troops to Iraq.#L#
"It is logical that the United States should be interested in
Croatia's position on the issue, but no direct question was asked.
When it is, we will consider all aspects of it and discuss the matter
in the Sabor (parliament)," the prime minister said in response to the
question by Pero Kovacevic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP).
Sanader said that Croatia was ready to remain part of the global
anti-terrorist coalition and assist the international community in
containing terrorism. He repeated that the report to the government by
Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul, who visited the US along with
Parliament President Vladimir Seks, made no mention of any specific
agreement with the US.
"The decision to suspend the visa requirements for citizens of Serbia
and Montenegro by the end of June is of a technical nature and can be
suspended at any moment," the prime minister told HSP deputy Ruza
Tomasic, who wanted to know why the government had made this decision
in view of the relative victory of the Serbian Radical Party in recent
elections.
Sanader stressed that "normalisation of relations with Serbia and
Montenegro has no alternative," but added that Croatia was closely
following developments in that country.
"We want normal relations, and the aim of this decision is to
encourage pro-European and pro-reform forces in Serbia and Montenegro
to form a government without the Radicals," he said.
Sanader announced that the government would receive a delegation of
the Croat community from Vojvodina and that a Croatian delegation
would soon travel to this northern Serbian province.
Speaking of the status of the southern Bosnian city of Mostar, Sanader
said he supported proposals that it should be organised as a single
city, but noted that a solution should be reached by consensus.
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"If the arrest of Jelavic is politically motivated, it should be
rejected, but if it is based on legal grounds, we cannot get into it,"
Sanader said in a comment on the arrest of Ante Jelavic, a former
president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia Herzegovina (HDZ
BH).
Sanader also said that Croatia's assistance to the Croats in
Bosnia-Herzegovina would not be just lip service.
(Hina) vm sb