BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3655 HINA ZAGREB, 10 JUNE 2000

HR-POLITICS-BULLETIN-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3655 HINA ZAGREB, 10 JUNE 2000 RACAN OPENS CROATIAN NATIONAL DAY AT EXPO 2000HANNOVER, June 10 (Hina) - Opening Croatia's national day at EXPO 2000 in Hannover Saturday, Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said Croatia no longer wished to be an island, but it wished to cooperate with Europe and the world. "Croatia has many islands, but it no longer wishes to be an island in any sense", said Racan who arrived in Hannover Saturday morning. He stressed Croatia wished to be a good partner to Europe and European countries, and added that "a democratic Europe needed a democratic Croatia". Over the past years we fell behind in efforts to demonstrate our possibilities because of the war and mistakes of the old regime, Racan said after the performance of the Croatian and German national anthems. The Croatian delegation also includes Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, Tourism Minister Pave Zupan-Ruskovic, Science and Technology Minist