WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Hina) - The National Federation of Croatian Americans has asked the Pentagon to make it possible for Croatia to participate in the U.S. tenders for the reconstruction of Iraq. Washington is planning to earmark 18.6
billion dollars for this purpose.
WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Hina) - The National Federation of Croatian
Americans has asked the Pentagon to make it possible for Croatia to
participate in the U.S. tenders for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Washington is planning to earmark 18.6 billion dollars for this
purpose. #L#
The NFCA President, John Kraljic, sent a letter to the U.S Deputy
Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, asking him to consider a
possibility of Croatia's inclusion into a circle of countries that
can take part in the reconstruction of Iraq, financed by the United
States, the NFCA reported on Tuesday.
According to an instruction which Wolfowitz recently issued, only
companies from countries that have given military and political
support to the Unite States' operations in Iraq, could compete for
tenders. Croatia is not added to the list of those countries.
Kraljic said that the victory of the Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ) at the November parliamentary elections should be used as the
argument for putting Croatia on the list, as the HDZ leader, Ivo
Sanader said that closer relations with the United States would be a
foundation stone of the foreign policy of the new government.
Besides, Sanader has called on Croatians to offer assistance to the
coalition forces in Iraq.
Kraljic recalls that although it voiced opposition to the war in
Iraq, the outgoing Croatian government strongly supported the U.S
struggle against international terrorism and sent a military
police unit in Afghanistan.
The NFCA, the umbrella organisation of Croats in the United States,
has 120,000 members.
(hina) ms