SANADER: CROATIA EXPECTS POSITIVE ANSWER OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION

MOSTAR, Feb 26 (Hina) - The great old dream of a united Europe cannot be completed without all countries of south-east Europe, and therefore Croatia is expecting to receive a positive answer from the European Commission about its EU membership application this summer, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Thursday in his speech at a two-day international conference on investments in Bosnia-Herzegovina.#L# "The process of drawing closer to the European Union and NATO increases our responsibility for the promotion of democratic stability and good neighbourly relations. We are fully aware of this responsibility and and we are completely ready to assume it," PM Sanader told participants in the conference in Mostar. He went on to say that this would be the best model to contribute to cutting off ties with uncertainties from the past. Financial and political investments are inseparable, Sanader said adding that Zagreb fully supports the ongoing reform processes in Bosnia, particularly in the economy and efforts to establish a single market and judiciary. Croatian Premier said that with the conclusion of the agreement on free trade significant progress had been made, and it was now up to business people to assess its ranges. He called on interested parties to use business possibilities of Bosnia, which Croatia, as its neighbour, strongly supports. Croatia, which is the biggest investor in Bosnia, would like to solve all the remaining open issues in the relations with this neighbour, Sanader said adding that Bosnia was one of the most important markets for Croatia and vice versa. The Adriatic-Ionian Highway, the Vc corridor, joint investments in the port of Ploce, aluminium production, the power supply system are only some of the fields important for both countries. Besides, Croatia is going to stimulate investments in the private sector though programmes of its Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Investments in Bosnia are for all of us also investments in stability, cooperation and development of our part of Europe. In this sense Croatia will back the active role of European Union in Bosnia," the Croatian official said adding that he would like to send from the Mostar conference the message that Europe could not stop the process of its enlargement after May 1 when ten new countries would join it. There is no united Europe if this part of Europe is not inside that process. We in Croatia expect to receive this spring the EC's positive response to our application and to be given the status of a candidate, too. I am sure that this would be a good sing not only for Croatia but also for all countries in our neighbourhood that a new leaf could be turned over despite great difficulties we had in the 1990s, Sanader said. (Hina) ms sb