DRAFT AGREEMENT ON BORDER WITH CROATIA FAVOURABLE FOR SLOVENIA - DRNOVSEK

LJUBLJANA, July 19 (Hina) - The governments of Slovenia and Croatia have confirmed draft agreements on the border and the Krsko power plant, Slovene Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek said in Ljubljana on Thursday. It was announced in Ljubljana this afternoon that the further procedure of adoption of the agreements would be discussed in Zagreb on Friday and that a Slovene parliament delegation, led by Speaker Borut Pahor, would hold talks with Croatian Parliament Speaker Zlatko Tomcic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan. A possible meeting of Racan and Tomcic with Pahor has been confirmed by the Croatian side as well. Speaking in the Slovene parliament about relations with Croatia after today's government session, Drnovsek said: "We have agreed on a very important point. It is even more important that the positive spiral in the resolution of bilateral questions with Croatia continues." Drnovsek hopes that the establishment of the Croatian-Slovene border and the agreement on it will be ratified by the parliaments of both countries. This is the first time after 10 years of negotiations Slovenia has been granted access to the open sea and achieved the status of a maritime state, Drnovsek said. Drnovsek did not speak about the details of the agreement, emphasising that more will be known next week when the government forwards the draft to the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs. (hina) np rml