BUDAPEST CROATIAN-HUNGARIAN TALKS END

BUDAPEST, Nov 12 (Hina) - The Croatia-Hungary relations are traditionally good, and they do not depend on the ruling structures, Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacz said in Budapest on Tuesday after talks with Croatian parliament president Zlatko Tomcic. #L# Tomcic, as the head of a Croatian delegation, is on a two-day official visit to Hungary which started on Monday. The Croatian parliament head is visiting Hungary at the invitation of his Hungarian counterpart Katalin Szili. "We pay great attention to the Croatia-Hungary relations, and they don't depend on the composition of the two countries' ruling structures," Kovacz said and added that along with bilateral relations, Croatia's joining Euro-Atlantic association was also important for Hungary. The head of Hungary's diplomacy said Croatia should be the eighth country to join NATO, after seven new countries receive an invitation to join the organisation at the upcoming summit in Prague. Croatia, he says, unfairly found itself in an unfavourable position regarding integration processes. This happened because "somebody had a plan to create a Greater Serbia", Kovacz said. "Croatia today must go ahead and build its future regardless of the fact when we are going to join the EU," Tomcic said and added that some world powers "do not understand or do not want to understand what happened in the Balkans". Tomcic said Croatia had been and was still being wronged, but that Hungary always supported Croatia. During the talks with Kovacz, the Croatian parliament head said that two concrete issues should be solved - the building of a joint bridge on the Mura river which should connect Zagreb and Budapest better and the signing of a cross border traffic and cooperation agreement before the Schengen agreements become effective. Tomcic also held talks with Hungarian President Ferenc Madl. They discussed bilateral issues, the situation in the region and the position of the Croatian minority in Hungary. According to the last census, 15,600 Croats live in Hungary, even though it is estimated the number is much higher. Croats in Hungary have local self- government, three schools, while state radio daily broadcasts two hours of programme in Croatian. Tomcic and Madl also discussed the return of a Croatian National Theatre building in Pecs to Hungary's Croatian State Self- Government, as well as a Croatian-Hungarian dictionary project. After the talks, Tomcic and the parliamentarians returned to Croatia. (hina) it sb