JERUSALEM JERUSALEM, March 15 (Hina) - Croatia and Israel have good relations in all fields but there is also great untapped potential, Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom said in Jerusalem on Monday after talks with his Croatian
counterpart Miomir Zuzul.
JERUSALEM, March 15 (Hina) - Croatia and Israel have good relations in
all fields but there is also great untapped potential, Israeli Foreign
Minister Sylvan Shalom said in Jerusalem on Monday after talks with
his Croatian counterpart Miomir Zuzul.#L#
Zuzul began his visit of several days to Israel by meeting his host,
Shalom.
Shalom said he believed relations between the two countries were
moving in the right direction. "I stressed the importance Israel
attaches to its relations with Europe and I hope Croatia will soon
become an integral part of the European Union," he said, voicing
confidence that once it joined the EU Croatia would work together with
Israel towards having the EU develop a more balanced approach to
Israel.
Zuzul said Croatia wanted to intensify cooperation with Israel and
expected Israel to invest further in Croatia. Last year's trade
between the two countries was a mere US15 million. Croatia could be
the Israeli economy's gateway to Europe, he added.
Zuzul said political and economic talks between the two countries
would continue. He announced Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader was
likely to visit Israel this spring and Parliament President Vladimir
Seks in the autumn. Zuzul added Shalom accepted his invitation to
visit Croatia.
Shalom said Israel might open its embassy in Zagreb by the end of the
year.
The two ministers talked also about the Israeli-Palestinian issue and
the rampant danger of global terrorism.
Shalom said among other things that last week's terror attack in
Madrid once again showed the horrors of terrorism. "Terrorism is the
enemy of all countries that love peace and value human life," he
said.
Zuzul said the Croatian government had a firm stand on the matter.
"There is no alternative to combating terrorism. The only way is
forming a big global anti-terror coalition".
"Croatia fully supports Israel's willingness to continue implementing
peace guidelines, but also understands the Israeli government's
obligation to protect its citizens and stop further terrorist
attacks," Zuzul said.
Responding to a journalist's question about his opinion of the
president of the Palestinian self-government, Yasser Arafat, Zuzul
said Croatia hoped the Palestinians would succeed in finding a
leadership that was capable of negotiating and achieving peace.
Shalom reiterated the Israeli government's position that negotiations
were not possible until the Palestinian leadership dealt with the
issue of terrorism.
(Hina) ha