YU. FOREIGN MINISTER: CRIME BIGGEST THREAT TO REGION'S SECURITY

BELGRADE, June 10 (Hina) - The only real danger to a country's security is the collusion between organised crime and political and parapolitical centres of power in the region, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said in Belgrade on Monday. #L# He spoke at the beginning of an international conference on NATO's Partnership for Peace programme and non-conventional threats in Southeast Europe. The assassination of former Belgrade police chief Bosko Buha earlier today illustrates the real threat to Yugoslavia's security, Svilanovic said. Speaking about Yugoslavia's role within the Partnership for Peace programme and relations with NATO, the foreign minister said that the country's military power and relations with the region's countries' armies were as important as measures necessary to combat the sources financing all illegal activities threatening Yugoslavia's security. Svilanovic urged the Serbian and Montenegrin governments to take action in fighting the smuggling of weapons, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and people, which he said generated enormous profit and financed parapolitical and criminal operations posing a danger to the whole region. The decision on joining the NATO programme is one of the most serious for the Yugoslav government, he said. Admission does not depend on full cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal and civilian army control alone, but on fundamental reforms of the most important state institutions as well, he said. The countries in the region are faced with the same problems, so they must cooperate to successfully combat organised crime and illegal trade, Svilanovic said. Besides domestic experts, attending the conference are ambassadors of Partnership for Peace members and the chief of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe office in Belgrade, Stefano Sanino. He said economic progress was imperative for world security and an efficient struggle against illegal trafficking. (hina) ha