USAID TO OFFER ASSISTANCE IN DEVELOPMENT OF EASTERN CITY OF OSIJEK

OSIJEK, April 12 (Hina) - Osijek Mayor Zlatko Kramaric, the head of the USAID mission in Croatia, Pamela Lane Baldwin, and the United States' Ambassador to Croatia, Lawrence Rossin, on Thursday signed a memorandum on understanding. Under the document, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will help the reforms and development of the authorities and local economy in this eastern Croatian city. Baldwin said the entire sum of financial means would be later defined under an agreement which should be signed by the signatories to the memorandum and the US Urban Institute, which will help implement the project. Ambassador Rossin expressed hope that the agreement would really help citizens of Croatia to promote their democracy and enter EuroAtlantic integration processes. Rossin announced a conference in Zagreb for 22 and 23 May when US senior officials in the field of trade and investment and representatives of eminent American companies should come to discuss with his Croatian partners possibilities for the investment in this country. Asked to comment on a document which foreign diplomats in Croatia recently received from Zagreb about its policy towards Bosnia- Herzegovina, Rossin answered that the paper was a positive result of discussion which the Croatian parliament held on the matter. The document reflects transparency and an active role of Croatia in its relations with Bosnia and Zagreb's support to the full implementation of the Dayton accords. We appreciate Croatia's efforts in the full implementation of the Dayton agreements and its discouragement of ultra-nationalist elements in Bosnia, the US ambassador added. (hina) ms