LONDON, May 3 (Hina) - Croatian authorities have Britain's support in their efforts to stabilise the economic and social life in the country as well as in their aspirations to meet European standards as soon as possible and join
European integration processes, Croatia's Prime Minister Ivica Racan said in London on Wednesday. Racan was commenting on his talks with British officials on the first day of his official visit to Great Britain, during which he met his host, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Blair's deputy John Prescott and Home Secretary Jack Straw.
LONDON, May 3 (Hina) - Croatian authorities have Britain's support
in their efforts to stabilise the economic and social life in the
country as well as in their aspirations to meet European standards
as soon as possible and join European integration processes,
Croatia's Prime Minister Ivica Racan said in London on Wednesday.
Racan was commenting on his talks with British officials on the
first day of his official visit to Great Britain, during which he
met his host, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Blair's deputy
John Prescott and Home Secretary Jack Straw. #L#
"Premier Blair supported our aspirations to join the Partnership
for Peace, then NATO and the European Union, and the World Trade
Organisation. He gave us some very interesting suggestions
regarding the strengthening of our economic cooperation," Racan
told Croatian reporters.
According to Racan, Croatia should be invited to join the
Partnership for Peace as early as this month, probably at a meeting
of the NATO Council of Ministers in Florence on May 25.
Speaking about the strengthening of Croatian-British contacts,
Racan said Croatia was particularly interested in direct British
investments and the return of British tourists to the Croatian
market.
Before the war, about half a million British tourists visited
Croatia annually, whereas today that number is tenfold smaller,
Racan said. He invited Blair to visit Croatia as a tourist, adding
this would significantly contribute to returning British tourists
to the Croatian Adriatic.
The Croatian government delegation on visit to London also includes
Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic and Economy Minister Goranko
Fizulic, who will have separate talks with their British
colleagues.
Racan asked British officials to help lift the ban on the export of
weapons from the European Union to Croatia, adding he was doing it
because Croatia was interested in mine removal devices, as there
was about one million mines left on the Croatian soil.
Today's talks also tackled some unresolved issues such as Croatia's
wish for Britain to cancel its visa regime for Croatian citizens.
The British side first wants to see that reasons which led to the
introduction of the visa regime (a large number of Croatian Serbs
seeking asylum in Great Britain) are resolved in a satisfactory
manner because Britain is faced with major problems due to the
pressure of asylum seekers.
According to diplomatic sources in London, the British government
welcomes a very good start of the work of the new Croatian
government and supports Croatia's efforts to join the Partnership
for Peace and other Euro-Atlantic associations. The Croatian
government has sent an especially good signal to the international
community by cooperating with the international war crimes
tribunal in The Hague and by demonstrating readiness to resolve the
problem of refugee return and make its policy toward Bosnia-
Herzegovina transparent.
Great Britain wants to cooperate closely with Croatia as a partner
who will embrace European standards and be a forerunner in the area
of south-east Europe. In that regard, British business people want
Croatia to establish such a legal framework which will enable
foreign investments and secure such business conditions which will
not depend on the current political atmosphere or individual
political interests, which, sources at the British Foreign Office
said, had not been the case with the previous Croatian government.
(hina) mm rml