WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Hina) - U.S. officials hailed the first moves of the Croatian government regarding the Serb minority in Croatia and the U.S. financial assistance is expected in the process of the return of Serbs and the development
of areas of special state concern, Croatian MP Milorad Pupovac said in Washington on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Hina) - U.S. officials hailed the first moves of the
Croatian government regarding the Serb minority in Croatia and the
U.S. financial assistance is expected in the process of the return of
Serbs and the development of areas of special state concern, Croatian
MP Milorad Pupovac said in Washington on Wednesday.#L#
Pupovac is on a visit to the United States. He and Croatian parliament
vice president Vesna Pusic will attend the traditional Prayer
Breakfast in Washington on Thursday. U.S. President George W. Bush
will address the event.
On Wednesday Pupovac spoke with the director of the Office for Central
and Southern Europe in the State Department, Charles English, about
the new Croatian Democratic Union government's treatment of the Serb
community and about Croatian Serbs' expectations of the government.
"The first steps of the Ivo Sanader cabinet regarding the rebuilding
of trust, the new policy towards minorities and integration with NATO
and the European Union have been positively assessed and well
received," Pupovac told reporters.
He said that concrete moves for the restitution and reconstruction of
Serb property should follow. He also said that new jobs should be
created.
Pupovac said that at the talks with officials in the U.S. State
Department he had stressed the importance of the U.S. support for
development projects.
"The United States is interested in the return of refugees and the
development of areas of special state concern," said Pupovac,
commenting on his talks with U.S. officials.
On Thursday, Pupovac took part in a debate on the strengthening of
cooperation in the Balkans, which was organised by the Woodrow Wilson
Institute.
(Hina) it