BUSY SCHEDULE AWAITS PRESIDENT MESIC BY YEAR'S END

ZAGREB, Aug 31 (Hina) - A busy schedule awaits Croatian President Stipe Mesic by year's end. It includes a speech on 7 September at the Millennium Summit at the United Nations in New York, to be held on September 4-10. Mesic is also to attend a session of a joint Croatian-Bosnian cooperation council on September 26. On September 28, Mesic is to visit Strasbourg, where a session of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly will take place. In early October Mesic should visit Bulgaria and in mid October he should visit Slovakia and Hungary. A visit to Germany is scheduled for late October. On October 5 and 6, the President will visit Toledo in Spain, which marks the 500th anniversary of Charles V and where a meeting of 'Carolingian countries' will take place. A summit of the so-called Chirac initiative (heads of state of European Union countries and countries established after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia) is scheduled for November 24 in Zagreb. In early November Mesic should attend a celebration marking the Jubilee 2000 in the Vatican. According to current plans, the President should round up his 2000 schedule, which has been very busy, with a visit to Israel on December 18-21. (hina) jn rml