PETRINJA PETRINJA, May 19 (Hina) - A Croatian government delegation and representatives of the international community on Friday visited Petrinja, where they held talks with representatives of local government and self-government, and
associations of returnees, displaced persons and settlers to Sisak-Moslavina County. During two meetings, closed to the press, Deputy Premier Zeljka Antunovic said Croatia's authorities wanted to take reconstruction and refugee returns into their own hands, and were to that effect coordinating all activities in that respect. According to Antunovic, not as much as should have been has been done in reconstruction of war-ravaged areas. The building of the infrastructure has lagged behind the reconstruction of houses and this should change, she said, adding reconstruction should first be directed to fields that will generate money and pave the way for economic and other progress. Comme
PETRINJA, May 19 (Hina) - A Croatian government delegation and
representatives of the international community on Friday visited
Petrinja, where they held talks with representatives of local
government and self-government, and associations of returnees,
displaced persons and settlers to Sisak-Moslavina County.
During two meetings, closed to the press, Deputy Premier Zeljka
Antunovic said Croatia's authorities wanted to take reconstruction
and refugee returns into their own hands, and were to that effect
coordinating all activities in that respect.
According to Antunovic, not as much as should have been
has been done in reconstruction of war-ravaged areas. The building
of the infrastructure has lagged behind the reconstruction of
houses and this should change, she said, adding reconstruction
should first be directed to fields that will generate money and pave
the way for economic and other progress.
Commenting on today's talks in Petrinja, a town 50km south-east of
Zagreb, European Commission Ambassador Per Vinther said talks of
this kind should be supported in view of spreading tolerance
because that, he pointed out, meant progress for Croatia.
The European Union is satisfied with the return of people to their
pre-war homes, and will assist in the renovation of the water and
power supply systems, as well as take a more active part in mine-
clearing, Vinther said.
A very bright future is ahead of Croatia, said United States
Ambassador William Montgomery, adding his country saw Croatia and
its people as partners in overcoming all difficulties.
Attending today's meetings were also Bernard Poncet, the
ambassador of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe Mission to Croatia, and Robert Robinson, the head of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges Mission to Croatia.
Prefect Djuro Brodarac said Sisak-Moslavina County was among those
which had suffered the most during last decade's aggression. Of
25,000 demolished houses, reconstruction has been completed or is
nearing completion on 5,000, he said, adding another 400 were
planned to be finished this year.
There are currently 35,000 Croatian returnees living in Sisak-
Moslavina County, 18,000 Croats from Bosnia-Herzegovina and the
former Yugoslavia, the prefect said. There are also about 10,000
Croatian Serbs who have returned to the County, of whom only 2,600
with the required permits and about whom Croatia's authorities
know.
(hina) ha mm