SLOVENIA AGAINST ARBITRATION IN DETERMINING BORDER WITH CROATIA

LJUBLJANA, June 4 (Hina) - Slovenia will offer Croatia alliance similar to the alliance among Baltic countries or the Visegrad Group, but it will not give up its view that the initialled border agreement is a done thing and that arbitration in Piran Bay is out of the question, Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said on Tuesday. #L# Rupel made the statement before the Slovene parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, commenting on relations with Croatia. Relations between Ljubljana and Zagreb should be governed by the principle of decisiveness and consistency, with cooperation in strategic matters and good relations between the two nations, Rupel was quoted by the Slovene agency STA as saying. He added that arbitration with regard to the border in Piran Bay was out of the question and that the initialled agreement should be implemented. Over the past ten years, Slovenia has insisted on its right to access to the open sea, he stressed. The ratification of the existing agreement on the border would be proof of the maturity of the two countries, which should continue co-operating as strategic partners after Slovenia enters the EU because small countries are stronger if they cooperate among themselves, he said. (hina) rml sb