LJUBLJANA, May 13 (Hina) - Cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia is more comprehensive than the unsolved issues which the two countries will certainly settle, and their efforts in this direction will be facilitated by their
orientation towards Europe and good bilateral cooperation at the time when the two countries were a part of one state, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in an interview he gave to a Slovenian daily ahead of his trip to Ljubljana on Tuesday.
LJUBLJANA, May 13 (Hina) - Cooperation between Croatia and Slovenia
is more comprehensive than the unsolved issues which the two
countries will certainly settle, and their efforts in this
direction will be facilitated by their orientation towards Europe
and good bilateral cooperation at the time when the two countries
were a part of one state, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said in
an interview he gave to a Slovenian daily ahead of his trip to
Ljubljana on Tuesday. #L#
"Entering the European Union and NATO, Slovenia is accomplishing
its strategic objectives, and Croatia shares the same interest.
Therefore we must fully cooperate. The border should be more and
more opened rather than closed. We must cooperate better than we
have done so far," the Croatian head of state said in the interview
with the Delo daily.
According to Mesic, Slovenia's success in the European integration
processes is a good sign for Croatia that the EU accepts new members
according to the principle of a regatta so that those that meet
standards are admitted and should not wait for others.
Being asked about the problem of unpaid amounts from accounts which
Croatian depositors opened with the Ljubljanska Bank in the former
Socialist Federal Yugoslavia (SFRY), Mesic answered that in his
opinion this was the issue which mattered the bank's relation with
clients and that this was not connected with the succession to the
ex-SFRY.
"Obligations towards depositors must not burden our relations. We
must find a solution. A part of deposits can be paid back and a part
can remain while clients should receive interest rates," Mesic
proposed commenting on the debts of previous Ljubljanska Banka
which Slovenia does not recognise but add this problem to the agenda
of issues to be settled within the succession process.
In Ljubljana, Mesic is to be received by top Slovenian officials,
including President Janez Drnovsek and Premier Anton Rop.