BUCHAREST, Sept 12 - Croatia and Romania have a ten-year continuity of good and friendly relations which have resulted in a large number of signed agreements and which did not open a single contentious political issue, Croatian head
of state Stjepan Mesic said at a joint news conference with his Romanian counterpart Ion Iliuescu in Bucharest on Thursday.
BUCHAREST, Sept 12 - Croatia and Romania have a ten-year continuity
of good and friendly relations which have resulted in a large number
of signed agreements and which did not open a single contentious
political issue, Croatian head of state Stjepan Mesic said at a
joint news conference with his Romanian counterpart Ion Iliuescu in
Bucharest on Thursday. #L#
The Croatian President said that a bilateral free trade agreement
would soon be signed and that negotiations were nearing an end.
He, however, failed to say whether negotiations would end soon
enough for Croatia to join the Central European Free Trade
Agreement at the summit in Bratislava.
The Romanian president briefly added that his country absolutely
supported Croatia's joining the CEFTA.
An agreement on cooperation in connecting oil and gas pipe lines
from Romania's Black Sea port of Costanza to Croatia's Omisalj and
Italy's Trieste was signed in Bucharest two days ago. Iliescu said
this was a regional project of great economic importance. According
to Mesic, special attention would be directed to environmental
protection measures during the implementation of the project.
The two presidents discussed all forms of bilateral and
multilateral, and particularly economic cooperation.
About 20 Croatian businessmen also arrived in Romania to
participate in the Romanian-Croatia economic forum. Presidents
Mesic and Iliescu will also attend the forum on Friday.
According to Iliescu, the two countries have intensified the
already good cooperation. He said Romania was interested in all
forms of traffic and energy connection with Croatia. The Mesic-
Iliescu talks also focused on cooperation of ports at the Black Sea,
the Adriatic and those along the Danube River, military
cooperation, cooperation in the judiciary and joint attempts to
approach Euro-Atlantic associations.
Commenting on a reporter's question on the signed American-
Romanian agreement on the non-extradition of US citizens to the
newly established International Criminal Court, Iliescu said the
agreement was signed but not ratified, and added that in the process
of its ratification, the parliament would consider the EU's
standpoint.
President Mesic said Croatia was against the signing of such an
agreement with the United States, and added however, that the final
decision had not yet been made and that it would depend on
consultations with the EU.
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