BRIJUNI: WORLD YOUTH FORUM CANCELLED BRIJUNI, March 26 (Hina) - A World Youth Forum which was opened on Brijuni Island on Sunday and which was supposed to last until Thursday was unexpectedly terminated on Tuesday morning. The Brijuni
National Park management refused further hospitality to the participants of the forum because of lacking credible documentation about the financing of the forum, Brijuni director Ratomir Ivicic told reporters.
BRIJUNI, March 26 (Hina) - A World Youth Forum which was opened on
Brijuni Island on Sunday and which was supposed to last until
Thursday was unexpectedly terminated on Tuesday morning. The
Brijuni National Park management refused further hospitality to
the participants of the forum because of lacking credible
documentation about the financing of the forum, Brijuni director
Ratomir Ivicic told reporters. #L#
The forum gathered representatives of some 40 countries all over
the world and was opened on Sunday by the secretary of the World
Youth Assembly, Donald Chambira from Malaysia.
It was said that the forum was taking place under the auspices of
President Stjepan Mesic and with the cooperation of the government
and parliamentary committees.
Ivicic said today that during talks with senior state officials, he
found out that the government never took on the obligation to
finance the conference.
Participants, especially foreign, paid their participation fees at
the expense of the Croatian National Youth Alliance (NSM) which
organised the forum, and a part of them paid the expenses by credit
cards, he said.
If the 43,000 kuna of expenses is not paid, we will file charges
against the NSM president, Drazen Kovacevic, for giving false
statements, Ivicic said. He explained that despite advice by the
Brijuni National Park management to cancel the forum, Kovacevic had
refused to do so.
All participants of the conference left Brijuni today. Some of them
returned home, and about 15 continued working with Kovacevic in
Fazana (Istria).
The forum's spokesman, Domagoj Margetic, told reporters the main
culprits for the incident were Kovacevic and the Alliance's
Secretary-General, Irena Curin. As organisers, they "lied about
the alleged government's consent to finance the forum," he said.
When President Mesic was asked by reporters about whether the forum
was being held under his auspices, he replied: "Probably, but I
received no information about the course of events. I must get
informed".
(hina) lml