INITIATIVE CRITICISES SLOW PROGRESS IN CROATIA-BOSNIA-YU RELATIONS

BELGRADE, Nov 1 (Hina) - Relations between Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Bosnia are developing much too slowly as there are various forms of resistance to cooperation in each country, a Serb official said in Belgrade on Thursday. Talking to reporters about the results of a recent session of the Igman Initiative Council in Croatia's Dubrovnik, the Initiative's Serb member, Zivorad Kovacevic, said the participants in the meeting had urged state institutions in Croatia, Yugoslavia, and Bosnia to establish a free trade zone and revoke visa requirements between Yugoslavia and Croatia. The Igman Initiative comprises around 100 non-governmental organisations from the three states which advocate the normalisation of relations between the three states. The Initiative's Council includes 18 intellectuals from the three countries, six from each. "None of us is advocating a new brotherhood and unity, none us has any intention whatsoever to introduce some new Yugoslavia through the back door, it's just about the need for cooperation in the region," said Kovacevic, a Belgrade mayor in the 1980s and later an ambassador of the former Yugoslav federation to Washington. He maintains "only two major results" have been achieved by Croatia, Yugoslavia, and Bosnia to date - an agreement on succession to the ex-Yugoslavia and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Yugoslavia and Bosnia. Kovacevic thinks Yugoslavia-Bosnia relations are more promising that those between Yugoslavia and Croatia. He conceded Yugoslav- Bosnian relations were weighed down by Yugoslavia's still standing aspiration towards the Bosnian Serb entity. As for Yugoslavia and Croatia, Kovacevic criticised the fact that diplomatic relations were not on the level of ambassadors. (hina) ha