CAVTAT, May 27 (Hina) - The Stability Pact for Southeast Europe has become a byword for regional cooperation and it helps countries in the region to accomplish their aspirations to Euro-Atlantic integration processes, Croatian Foreign
Minister Tonino Picula said on Tuesday in the southern coastal resort of Cavtat.
CAVTAT, May 27 (Hina) - The Stability Pact for Southeast Europe has
become a byword for regional cooperation and it helps countries in
the region to accomplish their aspirations to Euro-Atlantic
integration processes, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula
said on Tuesday in the southern coastal resort of Cavtat. #L#
The Stability Pact has a vital role for countries in the region and
for their aspiration to European Union membership, the Croatian
minister said at the second day of the conference of the pact's
regional table, hosted by Cavtat.
The Stability Pact's regional table was chaired by the pact's co-
ordinator, Erhard Busek, and the two-day Cavtat conference pooled
250 representatives of countries-participants.
The pact has contributed to constructive regional cooperation and
has become a byword for regional cooperation, the Croatian minister
said adding that the pact had also helped the countries in the
region to become more democratic, safer and more stable.
Picula commented on Croatia's application for EU membership and
informed participants in the Cavtat event that Zagreb was expecting
an answer from the EU soon.
He also pointed to the importance of the Cavtat conference, given
that conclusions from this event would be presented at the EU summit
in Salonika, set for June.
At the start of the second day of the table's conference in Cavtat,
Bosnia-Herzegovina's Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic spoke about
the Stability Pact's important role in the promotion of regional
cooperation. Ivanic announced a conference of interior ministers
of countries in the region for June in Sarajevo where they should
discuss issues regarding the struggle against organised crime.
On behalf of Greece, which is presiding over the EU until 30 June,
the Greek national co-ordinator in the pact, Panayotis Partsos,
addressed the Cavtat conference and called on officials of
countries in the region to continue with ongoing reforms in order to
achieve European standards as soon as possible.
(hina) ms