JASENOVAC, March 16 (Hina) - Speaking of his expectations of this week's visit to Bratislava, where he is due to meet his counterparts from the Vilnius and Visegrad groups of countries, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in
Jasenovac on Tuesday he expected Croatia's further progress towards NATO.
JASENOVAC, March 16 (Hina) - Speaking of his expectations of this
week's visit to Bratislava, where he is due to meet his counterparts
from the Vilnius and Visegrad groups of countries, Croatian Prime
Minister Ivo Sanader said in Jasenovac on Tuesday he expected
Croatia's further progress towards NATO.#L#
Sanader reminded reporters that the Bratislava meeting on Thursday and
Friday was one of the last important ones before NATO's June summit in
Istanbul, at which the future of the alliance would be decided.
Sanader said the 'open doors' policy was not enough and that Croatia
wanted something more concrete at the Istanbul summit.
He added that in Bratislava he would lobby the Vilnius Group for
stronger support for Croatia's NATO entry.
Asked if Croatian troops would be deployed in Iraq, Sanader said that
if such a request came it would be put to the government for
consideration and then to parliament to decide.
In Bratislava Sanader will attend an international conference on
Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and NATO. The conference is held
under the auspices of Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda.
The Visegrad Group includes Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and
Poland, while the Vilnius Group is comprised of Slovakia, Croatia,
Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and
Albania.
(Hina) ha