ZAGREB, Feb 13 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday called on Iraq to fully and immediately comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 and expressed interest in seeing the Iraqi crisis resolved without a war.
ZAGREB, Feb 13 (Hina) - The Croatian government on Thursday called
on Iraq to fully and immediately comply with U.N. Security Council
Resolution 1441 and expressed interest in seeing the Iraqi crisis
resolved without a war. #L#
The government appealed to the United States, the European Union
and other members of the anti-terrorist coalition to reach the much
needed consensus and unity regarding further measures aimed to
resolve the Iraqi crisis within the U.N. Security Council.
"... Croatia still believes that means of solving the Iraqi crisis
in a peaceful manner have not been completely exhausted," Prime
Minister Ivica Racan said conveying the government's stand that the
resolution of the crisis depended on Iraq's conduct.
He stated that Croatian citizens, who had been exposed to the
horrors of war, very much appreciated peace and peaceful political
means of solving problems.
"That is why Croatia is particularly interested in the crisis being
resolved without a war," he stressed.
As a NATO candidate and a country which will soon apply for
membership of the EU, Croatia is especially interested in
strengthening the EU's common foreign and security policy and has
therefore joined the protest note of the EU Presidency on Iraq of
February 4, Racan said.
Croatia hopes that the upcoming special meeting of the European
Council would result in a consensus on ways to solve the Iraqi
crisis, he added.
Stable relations between the EU and the United States, i.e. Euro-
Atlantic partnership, are the best guarantee of peace and the
stability of the international order and efficiency in combating
terrorism, the PM said.
Euro-Atlantic dialogue is necessary also for the sake of
controlling all possible aspects of resolution of the Iraqi crisis,
he said.
Croatia declares itself as a country which prefers peace and the
settlement of world crises in a peaceful way, through dialogue and
tolerance and political solutions, Defence Minister Zeljka
Antunovic said.
There will be no shortage of oil products in Croatia, there may only
be an increase in oil prices, Economy Minister Ljubo Jurcic said.
Daily oil consumption in Croatia is 200,000-270,000 tonnes, while
Ina's reserves amount to around 600,000 tonnes, Jurcic said, adding
that Croatia had oil reserves to last three months at least.
(hina) rml sb