OHRID, July 14 (Hina) - Croatia no longer agrees to play a passive role on the international scene, and wants to increase its presence in Southeast Europe, Croatia's Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said in Ohrid, Macedonia, on Friday.
Picula is attending a one-day conference gathering foreign ministers of countries participating in the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP). "Croatia no longer agrees to play a passive role on the international scene, and Southeast Europe is a region it wants to be more present in than before," the minister told reporters in a break of the conference. In attendance are the foreign ministers of SEECP's six member-states, namely Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, and Turkey, as well as of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which have observer status. Picula told reporters the very name of the conference, SEECP, was an "open invitation to Croati
OHRID, July 14 (Hina) - Croatia no longer agrees to play a passive
role on the international scene, and wants to increase its presence
in Southeast Europe, Croatia's Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said
in Ohrid, Macedonia, on Friday.
Picula is attending a one-day conference gathering foreign
ministers of countries participating in the Southeast Europe
Cooperation Process (SEECP).
"Croatia no longer agrees to play a passive role on the
international scene, and Southeast Europe is a region it wants to be
more present in than before," the minister told reporters in a break
of the conference.
In attendance are the foreign ministers of SEECP's six member-
states, namely Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, and
Turkey, as well as of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which have
observer status.
Picula told reporters the very name of the conference, SEECP, was an
"open invitation to Croatia and its government to in some way leave
behind all prejudices and uncertainties which encumbered Croatia
not long ago."
As a country bordering with Southeast Europe, Croatia must keep an
interest in the processes taking place there, said Picula.
He promised Croatia would make a contribution to a faster
improvement of Southeast Europe's image.
Speaking about bilateral relations with Macedonia, the host of the
SEECP conference, Croatia's foreign minister said there were no
open issues between the two countries, only open possibilities for
even better economic cooperation.
Macedonia's Foreign Minister Aleksandar Dimitrov handed Picula a
draft agreement on cooperation between the two countries as part of
the process of stabilisation and association with the European
Union.
(hina) ha mm