MINISTER ZUZUL ATTENDS WASHINGTON CONFERENCE ON SECURITY IN W. BALKANS

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul said in Washington on Monday that permanent stability in the Western Balkans could be secured by integrating the countries of the region into NATO.#L# Zuzul made the statement at the conference "From Security to Development in the Western Balkans", which was organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Zuzul said that permanent security and stability would be established in the Western Balkans once the countries of the region were admitted into NATO. Speaking about Croatia's ambitions to join NATO, Zuzul said that the policy of open doors was no longer sufficient for Croatia, which wanted the upcoming summit in Istanbul to offer it clear membership prospects. Commenting on the US-Adriatic Charter, which supports the aspirations of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia to join NATO, Zuzul said the document was an acceptable means of integration, but that each country should be evaluated individually in its efforts to accomplish that goal. NATO should consider admitting Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina to the Partnership for Peace programme once they solve the problems they are facing now, Zuzul said adding that the inclusion of those countries in the programme was part of the solution to the problems. Croatia is investing efforts to meet all requirements of the international community on its road to the EU and NATO and is particularly working on the return of refugees, the improvement of the position of minorities, cooperation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and the building of civil society, the minister said. Croatia accepts its obligations towards the tribunal and considers the cooperation a legal and not a political issue, Zuzul said. Asked to comment on Croatia's great expectations from the NATO summit in Istanbul in light of the fact that Hague tribunal indictee Ante Gotovina is still at large, Zuzul said that Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal could be only judged as a whole and not by that case alone. Croatia is fulfilling its obligations towards the tribunal, the minister said, pointing to documents that were submitted to the tribunal as well as to the recent voluntary surrender of generals Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac. Commenting on Gotovina's case, Zuzul said the Croatian authorities had no information about his being in Croatia and did not know his whereabouts, and added that Croatia's cooperation in this case should be judged by what it could do. Speaking about admission to the EU, Zuzul said Croatia expected the EU to publish its opinion on its membership application by the end of April, adding that the country was expected to become a candidate by June. Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, who also took part in the conference, said that the stabilisation of the Western Balkans would not be completed until all countries of the region joined the Euro-Atlantic community and that deadlines should be set for that. Croatia has made significant steps in the reform of judicial, economic, social and democratic institutions and it should be encouraged in efforts to start negotiations on membership in the EU and NATO, Rupel said. He added that Slovenia supported Croatia's efforts to join Euro-Atlantic institutions. (Hina) rml