CROATIA, SERBIA TO CLOSELY COOPERATE IN DRAWING CLOSER TO EU

ZAGREB, June 11 (Hina) - Croatia and Serbia are willing to closely cooperate in the further drawing closer to the EU, and today's meeting is a good start of cooperation in European integration, Croatian European Integration Minister Neven Mimica and Serbian Deputy PM Cedomir Jovanovic said in Zagreb on Wednesday. #L# The two officials said a joint declaration would be signed soon clearly expressing the political and European ambitions concerning partnership with Brussels. Jovanovic is visiting Zagreb at Mimica's invitation. Mimica said they agreed "the upcoming summit in Salonika is a good opportunity to trace the road that will constitute the link between two processes running parallel in Europe in recent years -- the EU enlargement process and the stabilisation and association process in Southeast Europe". Croatia is interested in seeing Serbia-Montenegro become an EU member and complete the complex task of adjusting to European standards and criteria as soon as possible, said Mimica. "Our application for EU membership should be viewed in the regional context as well as an even greater responsibility on Croatia's part to continue with the policy of cooperation in the region and stabilisation of the region, which can help all achieve the final objective as soon as possible," Mimica said. Belgrade-Zagreb relations are very important for Serbia, and Serbia strongly and genuinely supports Croatia in its bids to join the European Union, said Jovanovic. "We believe the issue of regional cooperation is very important and that the road to Brussels cannot be shorter if Sarajevo, Zagreb, Skopje, Bucharest, or Sofia are bypassed. This is why the Serbian government has a strong ambition to build partnership with Brussels through partnership with states in the former Yugoslav area and the western Balkans," he said. Jovanovic expressed willingness to resolve what he said were inherited open issues between Croatia and Serbia, stressing that "in bilateral relations there are no contentious issues, insoluble problems or taboo subjects". Jovanovic said a message should be relayed to Brussels to the effect that the two countries are capable of dealing with problems and defining goals. In this respect, he said the suspension of visa requirements was a very positive step and that it should be made permanent. Jovanovic said a decision was adopted on Tuesday to withdraw Serbia-Montenegro troops from the Croatia-Montenegro border and replace them with border police, and that this would be applied on the Croatia-Serbia border too. "The border issue won't hinder the normalisation of relations and our regional cooperation." Both Jovanovic and Mimica pointed to the need of raising the question of the EU's financial support and resolving the status of countries participating in the Stabilisation and Association Process. (hina) ha sb