BRUSSELS HIS MOST IMPORTANT MISSION TO DATE BRUSSELS, July 18 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in Brussels on Tuesday his two-day visit to NATO, the European Union, and Belgium was one of the most important visits he made
since being elected president in February. "I think this mission ranks among the most important missions I have accomplished to date, because Croatia wants to join the EU and NATO, and their headquarters are in Brussels," he told Croatian reporters at the end of his visit.
BRUSSELS, July 18 (Hina) - Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in
Brussels on Tuesday his two-day visit to NATO, the European Union,
and Belgium was one of the most important visits he made since being
elected president in February.
"I think this mission ranks among the most important missions I have
accomplished to date, because Croatia wants to join the EU and NATO,
and their headquarters are in Brussels," he told Croatian reporters
at the end of his visit.#L#
President Mesic said Europe needed a Europeanised Croatia, and that
Croatia's goal was to enter Europe well-prepared. Croatia can meet
standards necessary to integrate into European structures through
cooperation and contacts with EU's member-states, he added.
Mesic said one of the subjects of all the talks he held in Brussels
was a summit gathering western Balkans countries which should be
held in Croatia this autumn at French President Jacques Chirac's
initiative.
Croatia's President said that for the time being, neither the name
of the summit nor the countries participating were known, but that
the very essence of the summit had been agreed on.
"As European Commission president Romano Prodi has said, the EU
cannot come to Zagreb empty-handed, namely it must bring
regulations which will help Croatia become the generator of
development of the entire region," President Mesic said. He
asserted Croatia should become the economic and financial centre of
the whole region.
"In a certain way, Croatia must therefore be both remunerated and
recognised in Europe and in the neighbourhood," he said.
The Croatian President said that in his talks in Brussels, he
mentioned projects important for Croatia, such as the building of a
highway running along the Adriatic-Ionian coastline, the cleansing
of the Danube, the construction of a pipeline for oil from the
Caspian Sea, and especially the construction of a gas pipeline from
Norway to the Adriatic Sea.
Commenting on talks he held with Belgium's officials, President
Mesic said Belgian capital would come to Croatia, "not because the
government wants it, but because Croatia is attractive."
President Mesic said high-ranking officials at the EU and NATO
supported his contacts and initiative with Montenegrin President
Milo Djukanovic.
"Croatia's interest is opening to Montenegro and further to
Albania. It is therefore important that Montenegro be a
democratically arranged area," said the Croatian President. In
that respect, both Croatia and Europe support Montenegro's
leadership with Djukanovic at the helm, he added.
President Mesic said he did not believe Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic would go ahead with another war. The messages to
Milosevic are clear, the world will not be late as before in
preventing a new warpath, he added.
(hina) ha