ISTRIA COUNTY PREFECT CALLS FOR DEFUSING TENSIONS IN PIRAN BAY

PULA, Sept 2 (Hina) - Istria County Prefect Ivan Jakovcic spoke to reporters in Pula on Monday about the situation in Piran Bay, stressing that it was "true that Slovene and Croatian extremists are unnecessarily increasing tensions in Piran Bay, which could lead to a dangerous situation". #L# "I hope, however, that it won't come to that, so I call on everybody to calm the situation," Jakovcic said. He said that as prefect, he would initiate additional talks at a regional local level in the Croatian and Slovene parts of the county. He added that he was in daily contact with Prime Minister Ivica Racan, the heads of Istrian municipalities and towns along the Slovene border, and Slovene politicians from the Slovene part of the Istrian peninsula. Jakovcic believes that the tension in Piran Bay could be solved by returning to the situation before the border agreement was initialled by the two countries' prime ministers, that is, as it had been in the 1990s. This should be followed by talks between the two governments when they should agree on solving the border dispute without further straining relations, he said. Issues on which the two countries cannot agree should be solved through international arbitration, Jakovcic said. (hina) lml sb