OSIJEK: INT. CONFERENCE ON MINORITIES ADOPTS CONCLUSIONS

OSIJEK, April 28 (Hina) - The international conference "Minorities as a Bridge of Transborder Cooperation" adopted a set of conclusions on Sunday, calling on the recognition of local and regional levels as subjects of transborder cooperation which will help connect minorities and the establishment of contacts among states and cultures. #L# The two-day event was held in the eastern Croatian town of Osijek, pooling more than 100 participants from Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Serbia, and the Czech Republic. The political recommendations and conclusions from the conference call for stepping up the process of decentralisation, regionalisation, the exercising of the right to minority autonomy, the inclusion of national minorities in local and state authorities, and alleviating current visa regimes. The conference also called for an intensive implementation of adopted international conventions, constitutions, constitutional laws, and agreements, as well as for the adoption of new documents, while respecting and not reducing acquired rights. The conclusions call for opening more border crossings and corridors, as well as special offices, as a prerequisite for transborder cooperation. The participants in the conference voiced confidence a new constitutional bill on human rights and freedoms and the rights of ethnic and national communities or minorities would enter Croatian parliamentary procedure by mid-2002 and contain long-term solutions which are in the interest of national minorities and all Croatian citizens. Osijek mayor Zlatko Kramaric, as the host, said the conference showed Croatia's willingness to integrate into European structures as soon as possible and resolve the issue of minorities by the highest possible standards. The conference was organised by the Vlado Gotovac Institute, with assistance from the German Foreign Ministry and Osijek. (hina) ha