SARAJEVO, April 11 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic has said he expects progress to be made in solving the status of the port of Ploce at the next meeting of the Croatian-Bosnian cooperation council.
SARAJEVO, April 11 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic has
said he expects progress to be made in solving the status of the port
of Ploce at the next meeting of the Croatian-Bosnian cooperation
council. #L#
In an interview given to the Bosnian Federation's news agency FENA
in Zagreb, Mesic said the Ploce port should serve the interests of
the whole of Central Europe.
"Ploce Harbour gives a sense to the road corridor from Hungary via
Croatia and Bosnia to Ploce. The corridor will be used by Hungary,
the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine. This is why I
think that a discussion on Ploce should incorporate a debate on this
corridor," Mesic said.
Mesic said discussions about whether the existing agreement on the
port of Ploce and Neum should be ratified or changed first were
futile.
"With Ploce Harbour we are opening vast space for economic momentum
which will benefit both countries and we will certainly sign the
agreement, better sooner than later. I will suggest that
negotiators, who are now exhausting themselves over formalities,
first define their stands on essential goals," said Mesic.
Asked about speculations that he and Prime Minister Ivica Racan did
not agree about some aspects of the policy towards Bosnia, Mesic
said there were no differences in opinion, but only different
techniques of performing presidential and premier duties. Racan
has to take into consideration the opinion of his cabinet which,
Mesic believes, "is a rather complex situation".
(hina) lml sb