ZAGREB, Sept 14 (Hina) - Slovene President Milan Kucan is confident Croatia and Slovenia will settle open issues by themselves, without international arbitration, proving they are mature for integration into Euro-Atlantic
structures.
ZAGREB, Sept 14 (Hina) - Slovene President Milan Kucan is confident
Croatia and Slovenia will settle open issues by themselves, without
international arbitration, proving they are mature for integration
into Euro-Atlantic structures.#L#
Kucan is visiting Zagreb on Friday where he and his host, Croatian
President Stipe Mesic, held talks on bilateral relations and
topical international issues.
Describing Slovene-Croatian relations as very good and friendly,
Kucan voiced confidence the two countries would soon reach deals on
the jointly owned Krsko nuclear power plant and the border on land
and sea.
"Solving those issues is in the interest of both states. I believe
our two countries are sufficiently mature and responsible to settle
those still open issues... by themselves," said Kucan.
He added solutions to those issues would provide a good impetus on
the road to the European Union and NATO, to which both Slovenia and
Croatia aspire.
Both countries are interested in being acknowledged as a stable and
safe part of Europe and "by settling open issues they would show
they are responsible and capable of living in those institutions,
of playing an active and responsible part in them," said Kucan.
He added Croatia and Slovenia were also interested in taking a joint
approach to achieve those goals as soon as possible.
Kucan said he and Mesic had agreed to try to replace the
politicising of those issues with sober arguments and reliable
evidence showing solutions were in the interest of both countries.
Speaking of a sea border deal, the Slovene head of state said the two
sides should not weigh what each one got, but what both gained. He
said parliamentarians had the responsible task of ratifying the
deal reached by the two prime ministers earlier this summer.
Mesic said today's talks had addressed problems in the region, this
week's terrorist attacks on the United States, which both heads of
state condemned, and bilateral issues on which he said both shared
harmonised views, including joint activity on the multilateral
level. Croatian-Slovene relations continue to develop in a
positive direction, he added.
In a brief comment on the sea border deal, Mesic said it "depends on
the course of developments in the (Croatian) parliament," but added
it demanded "solutions that will be of use to both sides."
Later today, the two presidents will attend the opening of the
Merkator shopping mall, which Mesic described as the biggest
Slovene investment in Croatia to date.
(hina) ha