RIGA, April 4 (Hina) - Croatia and Latvia have similar history and major strategic goals: to enter the European Union and NATO, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and his Latvian host, President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, said after their
meeting in Riga.
RIGA, April 4 (Hina) - Croatia and Latvia have similar history and
major strategic goals: to enter the European Union and NATO,
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and his Latvian host, President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga, said after their meeting in Riga. #L#
The Croatian head of state arrived in Latvia on Friday morning on a
three-day official visit, and immediately upon his arrival he met
Latvian President Vike-Freiberga.
"The visit of the Croatian president is a historic event, as this
has been the first meeting between the top officials of the two
countries," Vike-Freiberga said at a news conference.
"Our countries have similar history, they were in state unions
without their own will, and now we are sharing the same values and
oriented ourselves towards Europe," Mesic told the conference.
He added that Latvian experience was of great importance for
Croatia, given that this Baltic country had made more progress in
Euro-Atlantic integration processes than his country.
The two interlocutors also discussed the situation in the Baltic
region and south-eastern Europe. They also spoke about the war in
Iraq and voiced hope that the war would end as soon as possible with
as fewer casualties as possible.
Mesic and Vike-Freiberga talked about concrete forms of
cooperation in economy and tourism. Latvia's top official said her
country could learn much from the Croatian tourist sector.
Asked by reporters about the United States' intention to close down
several editorial boards of the Free Europe radio by 1 October,
including the Croatian and Latvian editorial departments,
President Mesic said Zagreb and he personally had forwarded an
initiative that the departments continue operating.
The Croatian president wrote about it to a few American senators who
supported his opinion. In 1994 the said radio set up south Slavic
editorial departments in order to promote democracies and a
dialogue in south-eastern Europe.
During his trip to Latvia, President Mesic is being accompanied by
ministers of tourism and European integration, Pave Zupan Ruskovic
and Neven Mimica.
(hina) ms sb