CROATIAN PARLIAMENTARY OFFICIALS MEETS OSCE SECRETARY-GENERAL

ZAGREB, March 9 (Hina) - The Secretary-General of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Jan Kubis, held separate meetings in Zagreb on Monday with Sabor vice-president Luka Bebic, a deputy chairman of the Sabor's Committee on Foreign Policy, Nikola Ivanis, and the head of the Croatian parliamentary delegation at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Tonino Picula, the Sabor said in a statement.#L# The Croatian officials discussed with Kubis the return of refugees, minority rights, cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), legislative reform and Croatia's cooperation with neighbouring countries in the prevention of terrorism and trafficking in humans, drugs and weapons. Sabor vice-president Luka Bebic said the government was investing great efforts to solve those problems and the first results in the return of refugees and property repossession would be visible in the first half of this year already, reads the statement. Commenting on the latest indictments from The Hague, Bebic said that Croatia could not accept some allegations from the indictments but would challenge them before the tribunal in the spirit of good cooperation and in line with its Constitutional Law on Cooperation with the ICTY and the ICTY's statute. Bebic also said that requests that were put before Croatia were much more demanding than those put before other countries, but that Croatia accepted them as a challenge. Kubis said it was clear that the Croatian government had a very ambitious European programme in the implementation of which the OSCE offered its assistance and cooperation, the parliament's statement said. (Hina) rml sb