ISTRIA'S PREFECT SATISFIED WITH VISIT TO VOJVODINA

PULA, Nov 27 (Hina) - The visit to Vojvodina was successful, particularly due to the established political, economic and cultural cooperation, Istria County Prefect Ivan Jakovcic said on Tuesday commenting on a visit to the northern Yugoslav province of Vojvodina, where he headed an Istria County delegation at the event "Days of Istria in Vojvodina". Jakovcic told reporters the political leaderships of Istria County and the autonomous province of Vojvodina shared many political views, as well as multiethnicity and multilingualism. "I urged the official use of the Croatian language in the province at a meeting with the president of Vojvodina's Assembly, Nenad Canak. The official bodies are very interested in this proposal," Jakovcic said. He also stressed there Vojvodina was ready to return the exhibits stolen from the Vukovar Museum during the Serb aggression. Jakovcic announced that Istria and Vojvodina would continue strengthening cooperation within inter-regional cooperation in Southeast Europe, which, he said, the EU supported and was willing to finance. Jakovcic dismissed allegations from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) that Istria was not a federal unit like Vojvodina, and that its status therefore was not similar to Vojvodina's, saying "both Istria and Vojvodina needed decentralisation and a higher level of regional self- government." (hina) np sb