WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Hina) - US President Bill Clinton, Croatian President Stipe Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan were held in an excellent atmosphere Wednesday night, participants asserted. Instead of the envisaged 45 minutes, the
talks lasted almost an hour and was interrupted due to other duties Clinton had to attend. Racan described the meeting as "the crown of our two-day visit". It is significant that State Secretary Madeleine Albright and defence and finance secretaries William Cohen and Lawrence Summers also attended the meeting. The participants agreed on a visit of a US state and business delegation to Croatia next month. Mesic said that the political part of the talks had focused on the situation in the region, where the stances of Zagreb and Washington correlated. Speaking about the situation in Serbia, Mesic relayed the Croatian point of view that this was not just a Croatian or regional problem, but
WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Hina) - US President Bill Clinton, Croatian
President Stipe Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan were held in an
excellent atmosphere Wednesday night, participants asserted.
Instead of the envisaged 45 minutes, the talks lasted almost an hour
and was interrupted due to other duties Clinton had to attend.
Racan described the meeting as "the crown of our two-day visit". It
is significant that State Secretary Madeleine Albright and defence
and finance secretaries William Cohen and Lawrence Summers also
attended the meeting.
The participants agreed on a visit of a US state and business
delegation to Croatia next month.
Mesic said that the political part of the talks had focused on the
situation in the region, where the stances of Zagreb and Washington
correlated.
Speaking about the situation in Serbia, Mesic relayed the Croatian
point of view that this was not just a Croatian or regional problem,
but an issue of wider security.
"Yugoslavia cannot remain an isolated island while the remaining of
Europe is uniting," Mesic said.
Clinton commended the Croatian role in the region and stressed
progress in the implementation of the Dayton Agreement.
He described as important Racan's visit to Sarajevo and Mostar.
The Croatian side pointed out the insustainability of three armies
and separate budgets.
The talks with Clinton also focused on Jacques Chirac's initiative
which Croatia supported, but wished that it by content reply to the
expectations of the first summit of such kind.
Mesic reiterated Croatia wished, through the creation of legal and
other conditions, to become an attractive destination for
investment capital, and expected of the US to encourage American
financial institutions to a braver approach.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said in a brief statement
Clinton had wished to exploit the meeting with Mesic and Racan to
commend Croatian authorities for the job they had accomplished in
the past six months, for a good start and to encourage them to
continue the political and economic reforms in Croatia.
After the meeting Clinton saw Mesic and Racan to the gates of the
west wing of the White House and shook hands with both of them.
(hina) lml