MESIC SAYS GOVERNMENT'S ECONOMIC CONCEPT IS DEVELOPMENT-ORIENTED

ZAGREB, Aug 31 (Hina) - The government's economic concept for the next three years cannot satisfy us all, but it is development- oriented, Croatian President Stipe Mesic told reporters in Zagreb on Thursday. The government started from a "below zero" economic position, he said commenting on a concept the government put forward last week at a convention held in Plitvice Lakes. We have to look for a set of instruments to increase the employment rate and salaries, Mesic said, asserting it was neither quick nor easy to recover from the "economic miracle" the former, Croatian Democratic Union-led government boasted about. Croatia's current image and the legal security we want to achieve will attract foreign investments, the President said, adding the government and its institutions must fully implement the promises made in the pre-electoral campaign earlier this year. Speaking about fighting economic crimes, President Mesic was hopeful the public would see the first results this autumn. He announced experts were being pooled with the sole task of bringing such crimes to light. Commenting on the disastrous wildfires which have been blazing many Croatian regions the entire summer, the President voiced hope those in charge would draw lessons for the future, and that those who failed to comply with their task would be held to account. The Croatian President conceded there had been a lack of organisation, and that cooperation with neighbouring Bosnia- Herzegovina, whence wildfires caught on Croatian territories, could have been better. Commenting on a request by the Croatian Democratic Union for parliament to at once discuss the wildfires issue, President Mesic said the largest Opposition party had evidently forgotten that fire prevention for this summer ought to have been prepared last year, when HDZ was the ruling party in Croatia. (hina) ha jn