PRESIDENT MESIC TO PAY THREE-DAY VISIT TO IRAN

TEHRAN, June 17 (Hina) - Croatia's President Stjepan Mesic will arrive in Tehran on Monday evening on a three-day official visit to Iran, at the invitation of the Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. Mesic will be the first Croatian head of state to visit this 65- million country rich in oil. He is also the first president of a foreign country to arrive in Tehran for talks with Khatami after his landslide victory of the recent presidential election which enabled him to take the second term of office as the President of Iran. The two heads of state will consider the bilateral ties and the situation in the regions such as south eastern Europe and the Near East. Tehran has always shown interest in the events in the area of the former Yugoslavia and particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and recently it has expressed satisfaction with the incumbent Croatian authorities' policy towards Bosnia, according to sources in Mesic's Office. Mesic and his host will discuss possibilities for the promotion of the current modest trade between Croatia and Iran, which totalled only about 2.5 million dollars in 2000. Croatian President will also meet Ayatollah Ali Khameni, the Iranian supreme religious leader, and other senior officials. In 1993, Mesic, as the then Sabor Speaker, visited Iran, and he met Khatami during the UN millennium Summit in New York in September 2000. (hina) ms