PICULA MEETS OUTGOING OSCE COMMISSIONER, JAPANESE AMBASSADOR

ZAGREB, Jan 8 (Hina) - Croatia's Foreign Minister Tonino Picula on Monday met the outgoing High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Max van der Stoel, and the outgoing Japanese Ambassador, Keisuke Obu, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Van der Stoel, who has held the office since 1992, when it was first established, and who has covered the situation in Croatia since 1995, is satisfied with the fact that a number of his proposals regarding the status of the Serb minority had been accepted. The OSCE official emphasised the sustainability of returns should be maintained by creating conditions for the normal living of returnees and pointed to the problem of multiple occupancies of Serb houses by Bosnian Croat refugees. There are no political obstacles to the refugee return in Croatia, said Picula, warning it was the poor economic situation that was hampering the reconstruction of houses. A good example in the resolution of that problem is the cooperation between Croatia and Switzerland on a programme of reconstruction of houses for Bosnian Croat refugees willing to leave Serb houses and return to their pre- war homes, he said. The Croatian government is willing to secure legal conditions in which the rights of all Croatian citizens will be equally protected, Picula said. The outgoing Japanese Ambassador Keisuke Obu, who was Japan's first Zagreb-based ambassador to Croatia, said that with the democratic changes and the successfully organised Zagreb summit Croatia had demonstrated maturity and thus opened a new chapter of friendship and cooperation with the international community, including Japan. Picula said Japan could in the future have an important role in the region and increase its presence in the Croatian economy, which needed partners with knowledge and capital. (hina) rml