NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and US President George W. Bush met on the sidelines of the 58th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday and discussed the situation in Croatia.
NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and US
President George W. Bush met on the sidelines of the 58th session of
the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday and discussed the
situation in Croatia. #L#
Croatian journalists asked Mesic to comment on a report to be
published by Vecernji List daily on Wednesday that the State
Department had requested Croatia to sign a bilateral agreement on
the non-extradition of Americans to the International Criminal
Court.
"There certainly was no talk of that," Mesic said.
Commenting on the claim by Vecernji List that the US was exerting
pressure on Croatia, Mesic said that the only kind of pressure he
felt was when "(President Bush) put his hand on my shoulder."
President Bush was interested in the situation in Croatia. He even
joked a little, saying he would like to go fishing in the Adriatic.
He was in a very good mood, and "I think that the meeting took place
in a really friendly atmosphere," Mesic said.
The Croatian president also met UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,
who he said also showed interest in the situation in Croatia,
particularly in its neighbourhood.
Mesic said Annan had welcomed his recent visit to Belgrade as well
as Croatia's efforts to resolve problems caused by the 1990s war.
Mesic also talked to his Argentine counterpart, Nestor Carlos
Kirchner, who asked him to visit Argentina and who accepted his
invitation to visit Croatia.
Mesic said that Croatia and Argentina wanted to and could increase
their economic cooperation.
Talks with Albanian President Alfred Moisiu focused on the
possibility of Croatia liberalising its visa regime with Albania.
Mesic said that there was a problem regarding this matter because
Albanian emigrants might take advantage of Croatia's good will to
loosen its visa regime to travel through Croatia to other
countries. These countries would return the emigrants to Croatia
because they had arrived from Croatia, which is a problem that must
be solved by Albania, Mesic said.
Mesic also met Swiss President Pascal Couchepin for talks on
Switzerland's desire to increase investment in the Croatian
tourist industry and strengthen overall economic cooperation
between the two countries.
The Croatian president is scheduled to return to Zagreb on
Wednesday.
(hina) vm