PICULA COMMENTS ON VISITS TO USA, CANADA, SOUTH AMERICA

ZAGREB, June 18 (Hina) - The visit to the United States was necessary so that the Croatian government could establish preliminary contacts with the new US administration and exchange views with the other side on the situation in South-East Europe, it was said at Monday's news conference after the return of a Croatian delegation from a visit to Canada, United States and South America. "During my meeting with US Secretary of State Collin Powell I stressed that it was very important for the US military and political presence in the region to continue," Picula said, adding a stable Bosnia-Herzegovina was a top priority of Croatia's foreign policy. Picula said that he had told the US official that "it is cynical to call on people to return to Bosnia-Herzegovina while the most infamous war criminals like Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are still at large and have the possibility to affect processes in that republic." Asked about the "re-designing" of the Dayton peace agreement, Picula said the latest decision of the BH Constitutional Court offered hope that a more realistic balance of civil and ethnic rights would be achieved. "The Secretary of State and I have agreed that it is necessary to respect the institutions of Bosnia-Herzegovina. I said that it would be good if the introduction of a certain symmetry of institutions in the current two-entity system was considered. This would be in line with the Dayton agreement... but it would also adjust the country to the existing situation," he said. The Croatian delegation also paid visits to Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. The visit to Argentina coincided with the arrest of the country's former president Carlos Menem who was accused of involvement in the illegal sale of arms to Croatia in 1991 and 1993. Asked whether Croatia would help shed light on this case, Picula said that "it must not be forgotten that Croatia was exposed to an act of aggression and disarmed." "The international community did not show understanding for the emancipation movement in Croatia and did nothing to prevent aggressor Slobodan Milosevic and the JNA," he said. "Explaining why Croatia's decisions at the time were justified I said that ten years later Croatia is on the path toward Euro- Atlantic associations while the then Yugoslav leaders and the originator of aggression on Croatia is in prison in his own country, with, I hope, good prospects of being handed over to the war crimes tribunal," he said. Picula added that Croatian judicial authorities had not received any request for cooperation on the case and he did not know whether they would issue a statement on the matter. Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac and Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) president Nadan Vidosevic, who accompanied Picula on the visit, told reporters that they had signed agreements on avoiding double taxation with Uruguayan and Chilean authorities and stressed the important role of the Croat community in Chile which they said was the best integrated community. Crkvenac said that new loans had not been discussed with those countries and that Croatia this year did not intend to seek more loans than was envisaged by the state budget. He said that he was not considering a budgetary revision which would increase public spending. (hina) rml