ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan will visit the UK on Sept. 29-30 at the invitation of his British counterpart Tony Blair.
ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan will
visit the UK on Sept. 29-30 at the invitation of his British
counterpart Tony Blair. #L#
Talks with senior British officials will focus on bilateral and
other issues, notably the ratification of Croatia's Stabilisation
and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU which London has
postponed due to Zagreb's relations with the Hague war crimes
tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Racan is due to hold talks with Blair, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw,
Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon, and Home Secretary David
Blunkett.
The talks are expected to focus on Zagreb-London relations,
Croatia's drawing closer to the European Union and NATO, and Iraq.
Racan will also hold talks with London City mayor Gavyn Arthur
Alderman, and deliver a speech on Croatia on the verge of EU
membership at Chatham House, the UK's leading international
affairs institute.
Racan, who is also the president of Croatia's Social Democratic
Party, is also scheduled to attend a Labour Party conference in
Bournemouth.
UK sources have said the country will resume the ratification of the
SAA, a procedure which lasts about three months, if the Hague
tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, says in her annual
report to the U.N. Security Council in October that she is satisfied
with Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal.
(hina) ha