CROATIAN PM, ICTY PROSECUTOR SATISFIED WITH COOPERATION

ZAGREB, April 16 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan and the Chief Prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Carla Del Ponte, agreed at Wednesday's talks in Zagreb that the cooperation between the ICTY and Croatia was generally good and developing well. They clarified some remaining open issues. #L# "We agreed that the cooperation in general. We also assessed certain issues which need clarifying and solving," Racan told a news conference after the meeting. Del Ponte said a very positive development of cooperation between Croatia and the Hague tribunal had been achieved and added that certain open issues were still awaiting solutions. The chief prosecutor stressed that the arrest of Croatian retired General Ante Gotovina was an important issue. She is confident in the determination of the Croatian government to carry out the tribunal's arrest warrant. Del Ponte also voiced confidence that the Croatian Prime Minister had assumed the obligation to find and arrest Gotovina. Important steps needed to be taken are the arrest of Ratko Mladic in Serbia, Radovan Karadzic in Bosnia and Ante Gotovina in Croatia. Racan said that they also spoke about documents which Croatia needed to present to the prosecution and "issues were clarified well" in this area. "We spoke about the arrest of General Gotovina and the efforts made by Croatian authorities to comply with the arrest warrant," Racan said, expressing conviction that the efficiency of organs of authority in Croatia was improving in this instance. Del Ponte voiced hope that it would be easier to obtain Croatia's full cooperation in the future. Del Ponte said her next visit to Croatia would take place only to express the tribunal's gratitude for full cooperation. (hina) lml