CRO. PARLIAMENT OFFICIAL APPLAUDS RUSSIA'S CONSTRUCTIVE STANCE

ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) - Croatian parliament deputy speaker Zdravko Tomac on Wednesday applauded the constructive stance taken by Russia's delegation at this week's Zagreb conference which gathered parliament speakers from countries in the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe. The Russian delegation abandoned its demand to have the conference's final declaration state the Stability Pact could not function without the participation of all countries in the region. "The Russian delegation abandoned the demand to have the final declaration include the formulation saying the Stability Pact cannot function without the participation of the countries in the region, and to support the integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," Tomac told reporters at the end of the three-day conference which gathered representatives of 40 states and six international organisations. Tomac was on a task force which worked on the text of the Zagreb Declaration. The Russians demanded that FRY with its incumbent government join the Stability Pact, claiming isolation was detrimental to FRY's embracing of democracy. Tomac said the Russians had also been constructive in connection with their demand to support FRY's integrity. The stance which prevailed was that it was a matter the peoples living in FRY (Serbia and Montenegro) had to agree on in the future. Croatian parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic told the same news conference the Zagreb Stability Pact conference had been very successful. "This conference is a crucial step towards a more effective performance of the Stability Pact," he said. (hina) ha jn