MEETING 'OSIJEK IN NEW CENTURY' HELD IN EASTERN CROATIAN TOWN

OSIJEK, June 22 (Hina) - A meeting entitled "Osijek in the New Century" is being held in Croatia's biggest eastern town of Osijek. The event was organised at the initiative of Osijek Mayor Zlatko Kramaric and U.N. Secretary-General's special envoy Jacques Paul Klein. The purpose of the meeting is to analyse the situation after the completion of the UNTAES mandate and provide help for the economic recovery of Osijek and Osijek-Baranja County. #L# The meeting is attended by Croatian President Stipe Mesic, General Jacques Paul Klein, European Commission Special Envoy to Croatia Per Vinther, French and British Ambassadors to Croatia, representatives of the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other high international and Croatian state representatives. Mayor Kramaric recalled the war days and the sacrifices made by the City of Osijek. Apart from extensive material damage, the hardest truth is that some 1,100 people, of whom 80 were civilians, were killed in Osijek during the war. Despite all problems, Osijek has a chance and it must use it today. "The world will help us, but we have to open up to the world," Kramaric said. This region has economic potential, but it is necessary "to determine which companies we need as well as what our development priorities are," Kramaric said, emphasising the importance of the construction of corridor 5C, which will link Osijek with Hungary and the Adriatic coast via Sarajevo. Charles Aanenson, director of the office of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said the United States would continue providing aid because it wanted this part of Europe to find its place in European and international associations. French Ambassador Albert Turot warned one should not wait for help to come from abroad, but rather attract it with high-quality programmes and a clever policy. "I promise that we will be with you on that path," he said. According to EC Special Envoy Per Vinther, the EBRD this year granted EUR20 million to the Slavonska Bank. U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy Jacques Klein recalled that important changes had happened in the area since the completion of peaceful reintegration on January 15, 1998. Regional cooperation is not an obstacle to integration into Europe but a necessary precondition, Klein said, calling on the European community to invest into Osijek and its residents. President Stipe Mesic supported this proposal and today's meeting, adding Croatia was a country which stood the chance of becoming part of Europe in the shortest period of time. That chance was improved thanks to the current correct policy toward Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mesic said, adding Bosnia's Croats, Serbs and other peoples represented their interests in their common country and in no way in Croatia or Serbia. "Only a united Europe offers a chance to the peoples in this region to have a future, and this will happen whether one likes it or not," Mesic said. "Decisions will be made by consensus and every nation will preserve its ethnic characteristics. M.A.'s wearing black shirts, who are touring Croatia, needn't worry about that," Mesic said, alluding to the rightist would-be guardians of the Croatian people, who are flirting with the Ustashi tradition. What is important for us is to activate our natural and human resources because this is what will open the Danube and the port of Vukovar for navigation, as well as create other potential, Mesic said. Today's meeting also includes an economy workshop, which will be held in the afternoon hours and focus on the possibility of obtaining financial support. The Slavonska Bank, Association of Slavonija and Baranja Agricultural Cooperatives, Osijek's 'Drava' match factory, 'Tranzit' port and others will present their projects during the workshop. (hina) jn rml