AGREEMENT ON CRO'S ASSISTANCE TO FEDERATION'S CROAT COMPONENT

ZAGREB, April 3 (Hina) - Croatia and the Bosnian Federation will "very soon" have a completed draft agreement on financial assistance to the Croat component of the Bosnian Federation Armed Forces, which will transparently regulate Zagreb's financing, Croatian Defence Minister Jozo Rados said Monday after talks with a delegation of the Bosnian Federation Defence Ministry comprising among others Minister Miroslav Prce and his deputy Sakib Mahmuljin. US State Secretary Madeleine Albright and Rados on March 8 announced they had agreed on the new way of providing financial assistance to the Croat component of the Bosnian Federation army, by which the funds would be forwarded exclusively via a Bosnian permanent commission for military issues. The agreement on the issue should be signed by May 8 and a working group would draft it by April 15, Rados said. Although participants in Monday's talks said a high level of agreement had been reached during the meeting, Prce criticised the fact that the Croat military component had not received assistance from the Croatian budget for the past three months. Rados avoided replying how the issue would be resolved. Rados also said it had been agreed to speed up the work on the signing of a military annex to the Agreement on Special Relations between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation. (hina) lml jn