PICULA ANNOUNCES CLOSE COOPERATION BETWEEN FOREIGN MINISTRY AND PRESIDENT MESIC

ZAGREB, Mar 3 (Hina) - Croatia's President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will cooperate closely and harmonise their views in order to be able to complete the extensive job awaiting Croatia's diplomacy in the next several months, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said in Zagreb on Friday after meeting President Stipe Mesic. "We announced that we would communicate as closely as possible, coordinate our actions and harmonise our political views," Picula said, emphasising that "synchronising is the golden word." Picula said he had informed Mesic about preparations for the reorganisation of the Foreign Ministry. "I can say that the process of reorganisation, which we will prepare carefully, is aimed at reducing the diplomatic-consular network," he said, adding it was no longer necessary to affirm the existence of the Croatian state. "Our priorities are somewhat different now. We will insist much more on the economic diplomacy and our diplomatic network will have to be able to present the economic quality of the Croatian state. I hope that we will spend every kuna we receive from the state budget for affirming Croatia's potential as an economic partner," Picula said. Commenting on a statement given earlier by President Mesic that all ambassadors who gained their posts by political decision would have to step down, Picula said that "constitutional regulations authorise the President to influence the selection of ambassadors." "We want to achieve the return of our citizens who left Croatia. This cannot be done without insisting that all our neighbours, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, open up and undergo democratisation," Picula said. (hina) mm rml