BUCHAREST, March 6 (Hina) - Croatia has asked and received support from Romania in its efforts to join the European Union and NATO, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Bucharest on Saturday after meeting Romanian President Ion
Iliescu.
BUCHAREST, March 6 (Hina) - Croatia has asked and received support from
Romania in its efforts to join the European Union and NATO, Croatian
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Bucharest on Saturday after meeting
Romanian President Ion Iliescu.#L#
Describing his two-day visit as "very successful", Sanader said that
Romania agreed that a positive opinion of the European Commission on
Croatia's application for EU membership would have "a beneficial
effect on the entire region."
Both Croatia and Romania "border on an unstable region" and "they both
have to contribute to the efforts by the international community to
achieve lasting political stability, which requires a clear European
perspective of the region", Sanader said.
"It is important that Romania and Bulgaria do not view Croatia's
ambitions to join the EU by 2007 as a hindrance," the Croatian prime
minister said. Bulgaria and Romania are to become NATO members this
year and hope to join the EU in 2007.
Last year, Romania was given a bad mark by the European Commission for
"a non-functioning market economy", which caused concern not only in
Bucharest, but also in Sofia because Brussels wants the two countries
to join the EU together.
Some observers noticed at the time that a possible postponement of the
entry date to 2008 or 2009 might help Croatia to enter the bloc
together with Bulgaria and Romania, although Zagreb has not yet
started membership talks and is yet to receive an opinion of the
European Commission on its membership application.
Sanader was accompanied by leading Croatian business people, who
attended an economic forum on the possibilities of expanding economic
cooperation.
"Since the signing of a free trade agreement, trade (between the two
countries) has increased five or six times and now stands at around
US160 million, but Croatia is still in a deficit," Sanader said,
adding that in his talks with Prime Minister Adrian Nastase and
President Iliescu he had pointed out Croatia's desire for a greater
presence of its companies in Romania and that Croatia was open to
Romanian investments.
After the meeting with the Romanian president, the Croatian delegation
left for Zagreb.
(Hina) vm