OHRID: FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS CROATIA WANTS SAFE ENVIRONMENT

OHRID, Sept 27 (Hina) - Croatia is reinforcing bilateral cooperation with Macedonia and Albania since it wishes to live in a safe environment which will be ruled by the spirit of cooperation, economic progress and mutual respect, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said in Macedonia's Ohrid on Saturday. #L# Croatia's strategic goals are membership in the European Union and NATO as well as regional cooperation with all democracies, Picula said at a conference on the Adriatic Charter, adding that these goals were based on the strengthening of democratic values and their implementation. Picula said Croatia was willing to share with countries in the region the experience it had gained in the Euro-Atlantic integration process. Commenting on the many regional initiatives, Picula said "different countries use them for different purposes" and that "Croatia has always felt that an excessive number of initiatives should not become a replacement for their usefulness". The Adriatic Charter, as one of said initiatives, was signed with the United States in Tirana on May 2 and should help Croatia, Macedonia, and Albania implement reforms required for joining the EU and especially NATO as fast as possible. In her opening address at the conference, Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva said the doors to the Adriatic Charter were open for Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bruce Jackson, a U.S. Republican lobbyist and creator of the Baltic and Adriatic Charters, said the expansion of the latter depended on the three participating countries' chiefs of diplomacy, but added that the U.S. did not object to two more countries joining. Asked by Hina how he would respond to the invitation, Serbia- Montenegro Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic smiled and said he had invited himself. Replying to the same question, Picula said "surplus cooperation can't be harmful but one must see to it that regional cooperation doesn't become a substitute for the efforts we are making at home". "We have to resolve some problems by ourselves, and some jointly," he said at the end of the Ohrid event. (hina) ha