MESIC COMMENTS ON JOINT STATEMENT WITH KOSTUNICA

BRDO KOD KRANJA, June 1 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said on Saturday the joint statement he and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica signed in Slovenia on Friday was another step towards the normalisation of relations between the two countries, and announced the gradual liberalisation of the visa regime between Croatia and Yugoslavia. #L# "This is another step towards the normalisation of our relations. We must enable cooperation between our economies, which are compatible. We must enable our citizens to cross the border without any problems, and we must build good neighbourly relations. This will be possible as guilt is individualised. We cannot blame an entire nation for crimes which were committed by individual people and those people have to answer for them," Mesic said at a press conference after the end of a plenary session of the presidents of Central European countries at Brdo kod Kranja. Asked by Serbian reporters covering the conference about the liberalisation of the visa regime, which is mentioned in the joint statement, Mesic said the visa regime would be gradually liberalised and the process would start this year already. Asked to say when exactly Croatia would cancel visa requirements for Yugoslav citizens, as Yugoslavia has already done so for Croatian citizens, Mesic said Croatia would do the same but he could not say when exactly. (hina) rml