BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3498

HINA Zagreb, January 8, 2000 RACAN: CROATIAN CITIZENS HAVE DEMONSTRATED DEMOCRATIC MATURITY ZAGREB, Jan 9 (Hina) - Although the final results of the parliamentary election have not been announced yet, we would like to express our gratitude and congratulate all those who contributed to the citizens' being able to express their will in a better and fairer manner, as well as to enabling positive information about the democratic Croatia to be heard in Europe and the world after quite some time, Social Democratic Party (SDP) president Ivica Racan said in a statement issued on Sunday. Many individuals, associations and institutions of civil society, gathered around 'Voice 99' and 'GONG' have significantly contributed to the successfully conducted elections and their democratic nature. They have contributed to the large turnout and the successful monitoring and control of the election. These are the first achieved changes among the changes sought by a vast majority of citizens in their lives and in Croatia, the statement said. The citizens of Croatia have demonstrated their democratic maturity and the awareness of the power of their voice; many individuals and non-government organisations have shown the imminent force and the possibility of civil society in Croatia. Therefore, I congratulate all on behalf of the Social Democratic Party/Croatian Social Liberal Party (SDP/HSLS) coalition, Racan said in the statement. "CROATIAN TRADITIONAL CULTURE" EXHIBITION TO BE STAGED IN BUDAPEST ZAGREB, Jan 9 (Hina) - An exhibition of items from Croatian ethnographic museums, entitled "Croatian Traditional Culture: At the Turn of Worlds and Epochs", will take place at Budapest's Historical Museum between January 19 and February 13. The exhibition will travel around the world so that Croatia's peasant society and culture of the past could be presented as completely as possible, officials of the Croatian Culture Ministry told reporters in Zagreb last Friday. The exhibition will present some 700 items from the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries, which are kept in museums in Zagreb, Split, Vinkovci, Osijek, Slavonski Brod, Krk, Rijeka, Cavtat, Cakovec and Hvar. The exhibition is divided by regions and visitors will be able to see folk costumes, household items, handicrafts, decorative weapons, jewellery, toys, and musical instruments. The exhibition should also visit several towns in Canada and the United States, whereas talks with museums in Argentina and Chile are still underway, said Culture Minister Bozo Biskupic. This event and the exhibition "Croats - Christianity, Culture, Art" in the Vatican complete one segment in the presentation of Croatia's cultural heritage, Biskupic said. The exhibition is accompanied by a 600-page catalogue in English with contributions by 32 Croatian ethnologists and folklorists, and a video on the regions from which the exhibits are coming. ISTRIAN POINTER INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED AS CROATIAN BREED ZAGREB, Jan 9 (Hina) - After nine years of efforts invested by Croatian experts, hunters, breeders and dog lovers, the Istrian pointer has at last been internationally recognised as an autochtonous Croatian breed. At last, because the Istrian pointer was mentioned for the first time in 1374 by Djakovo Bishop Petar, who wrote that the breed was most widespread in Croatia's coastal region. #L# The breed was presented in Croatia for the first time in 1948. Since the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, the Croatian Kennel Society took over the care for the breed and much credit goes to the Club for the recognition of the Istrian pointer as an autochtonous Croatian breed over Slovenia and Italy. The club "Istrian Pointer" was established in Umag in 1988. I WILL FINNISH BUILDING OF CONSTITUTIONAL STATE - GRANIC SPLIT, Jan 9 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) presidential candidate, Mate Granic, who started his presidential campaign Saturday, visited the southern Adriatic cities of Split and Trogir on Sunday, where he greeted the citizens. "My philosophy of life is populism and Christian democracy, but despite that, I believe I will be able to coexist with the Government of Mr. Racan, respecting every agreement reached in the Croatian National Sabor", Granic told a press conference in Split. He said that as the President of the State he would first form a smaller presidential office will quality associates, finish the process of the building of a constitutional state and include Croatia in the world, which is not going to be difficult because the world knows him. He stressed he would deal with problems of citizens. In Granic's opinion he would have won the presidential election if they were held before the parliamentary elections, but now he sees himself as the winner in the second round of elections where he is to compete with Drazen Budisa. Croatia's citizens voted against the HDZ at the parliamentary elections, however, at presidential elections, a person is important and not a party, Granic stressed. INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE LEDIC PRESENTS HIS ELECTORAL PROGRAMME ZAGREB, Jan 9 (Hina) - Independent presidential candidate Ante Ledic on Sunday presented his electoral programme under the slogan of "Man of Word, Man of Deed" and the course of his pre-electoral campaign which will begin in the eastern Croatian regions of Slavonia and Baranja. The priority in Ledic's programme is the solving of economic issues. Ledic told reporters he entered the campaign with an aim to direct his knowledge and energy to his service to people. He is not a member of any political party. Ledic is the main director of the "Zrinjevac" utility company since 1988. He stressed that in the past ten years he was partially involved in politics, however, he was not exposed in media. Ledic is known to the public for his achievements as an athlete, and had a career of a successful track and field athlete. "Truth, justice and love are main postulates in my private life, my company is my pride and my concern for men - my only programme", Ledic said. He said he would do everything in his power to decrease the unemployment rate. Ledic said he would include all capable and hard-working individuals, despite their national, religious, or party orientation. THIS BULLETIN INCLUDES ITEMS RELEASED BY 22. HRS SUNDAY