ZAGREB, Sept 2 (Hina) - If Slovenia's proposal to establish a joint Croatian-Slovene environmental zone in the Adriatic Sea refers to the open sea zone, it will not be feasible because Slovenia has no access to the open sea, Croatian
Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic told Hina on Tuesday.
ZAGREB, Sept 2 (Hina) - If Slovenia's proposal to establish a joint
Croatian-Slovene environmental zone in the Adriatic Sea refers to
the open sea zone, it will not be feasible because Slovenia has no
access to the open sea, Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan
Simonovic told Hina on Tuesday. #L#
"I have not seen the proposal yet, but it can be assumed that it
refers to the open sea zone. There can be no joint zone in the open
sea because Slovenia has no access," Simonovic said.
Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said earlier on Tuesday
that Slovenia had proposed that Croatia should consider
establishing a joint environmental zone instead of an exclusive
economic zone.
"We, of course, will be glad to discuss cooperation in the general
protection of the environment in both Slovene and Croatian
territorial waters," Simonovic added.
Commenting on Slovene media reports that Italy and Croatia have
reached a secret agreement on declaration of an exclusive economic
zone, Simonovic said that the Italians had shown a much greater
readiness for dialogue than the Slovenes had and responded to every
call for bilateral talks. "We have not reached any definite
agreement with the Italians, but we are talking," he added.
"We would be very glad to talk to the Slovenes like that. Slovenia
should not sever lines of communication or insist on talks being
held at lower diplomatic levels," Simonovic said.
Simonovic went on to say that a Croatian-Slovene meeting on the
economic zone would be held on September 16 as planned despite the
fact that the Slovene side decided to send a lower-level
delegation. Croatia wanted a meeting of deputy foreign ministers.
Last week, Croatia sent a non-paper to Brussels expressing its
readiness to contribute to the European joint policy for the
protection of fisheries and the environment in the Mediterranean.
Simonovic said that Croatia's readiness to do so was evident from
its intention to expand its national jurisdiction in the Adriatic.
Such jurisdiction may be expanded by declaring an exclusive
economic zone, a protected fishing zone or an environmental zone,
he added.
"We are confident that our efforts are fully in accordance with the
policy of the European Commission," Simonovic said.
At a meeting with foreign ambassadors in Croatia on Tuesday,
Simonovic distributed a second non-paper elaborating on the
technical details of the first and responding to Slovene objections
to the possibility of Croatia declaring an exclusive economic
zone.
(hina) vm sb