ZAGREB, July 9 (Hina) - The respect of the rule-of-law must be the guiding principle for officials of every country, including Croatia, and people in authority are entirely aware of this and determined to act accordingly, Croatian
President Stipe Mesic said in Zagreb Monday, opening a meeting of the American Bar Association/Central East & European Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI).
ZAGREB, July 9 (Hina) - The respect of the rule-of-law must be the
guiding principle for officials of every country, including
Croatia, and people in authority are entirely aware of this and
determined to act accordingly, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said
in Zagreb Monday, opening a meeting of the American Bar
Association/Central East & European Law Initiative
(ABA/CEELI).#L#
This is the tenth annual ABA/CEELI meeting. The project started in
1990 with the intention to provide an accelerated and practical
support to reforms of legal systems in former communist and
socialist countries.
The ABA/CEELI includes about 20 Central and Eastern European
countries. It has been active in Croatia since 1993.
"I entirely agree with the assumption this initiative is based on,
namely that permanent political and economic reforms cannot be
implemented efficiently unless firm legal foundations, on which
political systems can function, are established," Mesic said at the
meeting.
"The establishment of the rule-of-law in Croatia does not only help
Croatia's institutions and citizens, but the entire region and I
dare to say the world as well," the President said.
Ahead of the meeting, the Croatian President was introduced by the
U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, Lawrence Rossin. Since his
inauguration, President Mesic has proved himself as a moral leader
of Croatian citizens, considering that he has persistently
advocated dealing with the legacy of the past, be it refugee returns
or firmer regional relations, Rossin said.
The same goes for the government's recent, possibly disputable
decision regarding cooperation between Croatia and the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),
which Mesic supported, Rossin stressed.
Rossin positively assessed the decision, adding it was good not
only for Croatia's relations with the international community, but
for its citizens as well.
Apart from attorneys from the U.S. and Central and Eastern European
countries, also present at the ABA-CEELI meeting were
representatives of U.S. agencies and international organisations
such as Transparency International, the ICTY and the Organisation
for Security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE). They will discuss
trafficking in people, corruption, and the establishment of
democratic institutions.
(hina) it sb