MESIC: CROATIA HAS MADE GRAND ENTRANCE INTO EUROPE

ZAGREB, Feb 18 (Hina) - Croatia has made a grand entrance into Europe and put an end to all forms of isolation, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in Zagreb on Friday. "Croatia has made a grand entrance into Europe, we have the support of European countries," Mesic said after a reception for foreign delegations held in Dverce Palace following his inauguration. "The promotion of democratic processes will help Croatia enter European integration," the new Croatian president said. During the reception he held talks with nine presidents of state and two diplomats. Mesic first met the heads of state of Visegrad Group countries, Hungary's Arpad Goentz, the Czech Republic's Vaclav Havel, Slovakia's Rudolf Schuster, and Poland's Aleksandar Kwasniewski. Mesic later held separate talks with Austrian President Thomas Klestil, Turkey's Suleyman Demirel, Slovenia's Milan Kucan, Macedonia's Boris Trajkovski, Romania's Emil Contantinescu, and Albania's Rexep Meidani. Mesic also held talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasjuk, and Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Nawaf Massalha. "Croatia also has to promote its export possibilities, so we discussed economic and technological cooperation, for which there exists mutual interest," Croatia's newly-elected president said. (hina) ha jn