LJUBLJANA, Aug 28 (Hina) - Slovene Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek at a press conference on Wednesday confirmed he would meet his Croatian counterpart Ivica Racan next week to discuss the border issue and bilateral relations which, as
he said, were at the lowest level since the break up of Yugoslavia or the independence of the two countries.
LJUBLJANA, Aug 28 (Hina) - Slovene Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek at
a press conference on Wednesday confirmed he would meet his
Croatian counterpart Ivica Racan next week to discuss the border
issue and bilateral relations which, as he said, were at the lowest
level since the break up of Yugoslavia or the independence of the
two countries. #L#
Drnovsek said he expected that consensus would be reached regarding
a draft border agreement which the Croatian and Slovene Premiers
initialled last year. If this will not be possible and if incidents
continue in Piran Bay then the solution to that problem is to freeze
the issue for some time and if need be, a final step is to refer the
matter for international arbitration, but for the entire border,
Drnovsek said.
Slovenia's premier once again emphasised the political
significance the initialled agreement has, stressing that any
possible arbitration would use the agreement as a starting point.
Drnovsek also commented on the issue of Slovenian citizen, Josko
Joras who has been in a Croatian prison in Pula for one week already
due to not paying several fines and not respecting Croatia's
sovereignty. Joras is known because he does not recognise Croatia's
sovereignty in the village of Mlini along the Dragonja river. Joras
claims that the border still has not been defined in this area.
Drnovsek said that Joras too is a victim of the undefined border in
that region and the Slovenian government was prepared to pay his
fines so he can be released from prison. However, according to
Drnovsek's interpretation, this does not necessarily mean
recognition of Croatia's sovereignty in Mlini at the moment.
(hina) sp sb