PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT SAYS RUSSIAN VISIT AMONG MOST IMPORTANT EVER

ZAGREB, May 18 (Hina) - The Croatian parliamentary delegation's trip to Russia, "thanks to many positive effects", might be one of the most successful made by a parliamentary delegation to date, parliament president Zlatko Tomcic said at the Zagreb airport on Saturday, upon returning from the Russian visit. #L# Tomcic led a parliamentary delegation which stayed in Russia for three days, at the invitation of the president of the Russian parliament's lower house, Genadiy Seleznyev. The Russian talks, besides the advancement of political and parliamentary relations, also focused on stability in South Eastern Europe, said Tomcic. "We encountered full understanding and for us, a very acceptable policy of the Russian Federation," he added. Tomcic said the parliamentary delegation also conducted "very concrete economic talks." He announced Russia would soon propose a model for settling its clearing debt "by engaging its demining agencies" in Croatia. If necessary, Russia will also help Croatia extinguish coastal area fires during the summer tourist season, said Tomcic. The parliamentary delegation appealed to the Russian side to resolve as soon as possible the very problematic situation involving Croatian oil company INA's White Nights oil fields in western Siberia, Tomcic said. At this moment INA "is unnecessarily blocked in its operations," he explained. "We have been given promises by senior state managers that the situation will be settled very soon," he added. Besides Tomcic, the Croatian delegation included Zdravko Tomac, parliament vice president and chairman of the foreign affairs committee, Vladimir Seks and Vesna Skare-Ozbolt, bench presidents of the Croatian Democratic Union and the Democratic Centre parties respectively, and Zlatko Kramaric, chairman of the zoning and environmental protection committee. (hina) ha sb