SABOR PRESIDENT ON RATIFICATION OF NEUM AND PLOCE AGREEMENT

ZAGREB, June 10 (Hina) - Croatian Parliament President Zlatko Tomcic has said he believes that the agreement between Zagreb and Sarajevo as well as a "retouched" document on the port of Ploce and passage through Neum open up possibilities for both parliaments to adopt the document. #L# Tomcic was on Monday quoted by Croatian Radio as saying that a statement by Kasim Trnka, a legal advisor in Bosnia-Herzegovina's collective presidency, did not contribute to the creation of a favourable climate for the settlement of the issue. "If the Croatian parliament fails to ratify a bilateral agreement on the use of the port of Ploce with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia's parliament should annul the ratification of the deal as well as of an agreement on the free passage through Neum," Trnka, a former Bosnian ambassador to Zagreb, was quoted by the Sarajevo-based daily "Dnevni Avaz" as saying. The southern Croatian seaport of Ploce, linked with the Bosnian cities of Mostar and Sarajevo by railway, is used by Bosnian companies for export and import shipping. The area of Neum is a coastal stretch of Bosnian territory cutting off the Dubrovnik area from the rest of Croatia. Sabor President Tomcic on Monday said a bill on the ratification of the said agreements had been on the parliament's agenda for several months. The vote on the agreement is postponed as the deal (made during the former HDZ government) contains some illogical elements, including an article on the management of the Ploce port, Tomcic said, adding that he personally and other MPs believed the document was unfair and pushed Croatia into an inferior position. Tomcic reminded that during a Bosnian parliamentary delegation's visit to Zagreb this March the two parties agreed to suggest to their governments to try and amend the contentious article and send the amended agreement to the parliaments to ratify it. (hina) ms