JAVIER SOLANA PARTICIPATES IN TALKS ON FUTURE OF YUGOSLAVIA

BELGRADE, Dec 17 (Hina) - The most senior state officials from Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro agreed at Monday's meeting in Belgrade, held in the presence of EU High Commissioner for external affairs and security policy, Javier Solana, that they begin an expert dialogue on the future of Yugoslavia by the end of this month, and that another meeting such as today's be held in mid- January to analyse the work of experts. Present at the meeting were Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Serbian and Montenegrin prime ministers Zoran Djindjic and Filip Vujanovic, Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic and Yugoslav Deputy Premier Miroljub Labus. After the talks Djukanovic said the talks were expected to be completed by February, and that they all agreed that "there is no priority in suggestions for solving the Yugoslav federation crisis". He said the European Union's stance "remains as it was", meaning a democratic Montenegro in a democratic Yugoslavia, but he stressed the EU "did not exclude the right of the Montenegrin people to decide on the issue". He added that the stances of the Yugoslav government and the Montenegrin government were to be treated equally, and stressed that today's talks "no not postpone preparations for a referendum". Solana briefly said that, according to his opinion, a federation was the best solution, and expressed the EU's wish in assisting to solve the crisis. It necessary, the EU can help in talks with its experts, Solana said. The Serbian prime minister said that a reformed federation was the best solution because, according to him, it was the cheapest, most efficient solution which would solve problems the quickest. "We will test both suggestions (from Serbia and Montenegro) on numerous concrete issues in the presence of EU experts," Djindjic stressed. (hina) lml