ZAGREB, June 29 (Hina) - Only friendly countries can have joint military units, and thus Croatia can set up units of that kind with Hungary, Slovenia or Bosnia-Herzegovina, as such a move will always contribute to lessening of
tension, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said on Thursday evening in Zagreb upon his return from a two-day official visit to Poland.
ZAGREB, June 29 (Hina) - Only friendly countries can have joint
military units, and thus Croatia can set up units of that kind with
Hungary, Slovenia or Bosnia-Herzegovina, as such a move will always
contribute to lessening of tension, Croatian President Stjepan
Mesic said on Thursday evening in Zagreb upon his return from a two-
day official visit to Poland.#L#
Asked by reporters to comment on a statement made by Sulejman
Budakovic, an assistant to the Bosnian Croat-Moslem federal
Defence Minister, according to which Croatian President had given
his initial consent to creating a joint unit of Croatia's, Bosnia's
and Yugoslavia's troops, Mesic replied that it was "a
misunderstanding".
"It is a misunderstanding. I have said that it will be good for
Bosnia to see this example of a unit consisting of soldiers from two
countries (LITPOLBAT)" Mesic said speaking of a joint Lithuanian-
Polish battalion he had toured during his visit to Poland.
In this context Mesic recalled that in history Poland and Lithuania
had not always had the best relations, but now they had the joint
armed unit.
"I believe that there would be no harm in our having similar units
with friendly countries. We can do so with Hungary, Slovenia and we
can also do so with Bosnia," Mesic told reporters.
This could be also a good move as it contributes to diffusing the
tension and all of us have the goal to enter NATO and in compliance
with its standards we can train certain units, the Croatian
President explained.
Asked by a reporter whether this implied that there were possible
plans on forming one day such a unit even with Yugoslavia, Mesic
answered that it was pointless to mention Yugoslavia.
During his two-day visit to Warsaw, Mesic, accompanied by a
Croatian delegation, held talks with top Polish officials
including President Alexander Kwasniewski, Premier Jerzy Buzek,
and speakers of the parliament's upper and lower house.
Their talks tackled also the issue of improving the economic and
trading co-operation between the two countries.
We can do much more than we used to do and Croatia's economy or
tourism have not sufficiently been presented in Poland, Mesic said
in this context.
This year, Croatia can expect a higher number of Polish tourists as
against previous years, but it is necessary to boost the promotion
of Croatian tourism in Poland which has 40 million citizens, he
added.
Mesic voiced satisfaction with the readiness of Poles, who had
managed to reconstruct their country after World War Two, to help
renovate cultural values in Croatia ravaged during the Homeland
War.
(hina) ms