ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) - Participants of the plenary session of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Parliamentary Summit on Wednesday called for democratic changes in Yugoslavia, in which presidential elections have been
scheduled for September 24.
ZAGREB, Sept 13 (Hina) - Participants of the plenary session of the
Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Parliamentary Summit on
Wednesday called for democratic changes in Yugoslavia, in which
presidential elections have been scheduled for September 24. #L#
I hope the elections will bring about democratic changes essential
for accession into toe Pact, Norway's representative Haakon
Blankenborg said.
The two-day parliamentary summit which began on Tuesday at the
Croatian National Parliament in Zagreb gathers 150 representatives
of parliaments and international organisations from 45 countries
around the world.
As parliamentarians we must provide every possible support to the
democratic forces in this country, speaker of the German Parliament
Upper House, Anna Elisabeth Haselbach, asserted.
She added economic development as a means of development of the
region should be equally followed by the recognition of democracy
and human rights.
Montenegrin Parliament speaker Svetozar Marovic said his country
expected direct ties between Montenegro and international
institutions to intensify.
"We wish to help Serbia, however, we do not wish to remain in a cage,
but rather ... become a part of an equal European alliance".
"Montenegro has already made its choice. Our choice is to cooperate
with the world, not to spur tensions. Our choice is Montenegro, not
Milosevic," Marovic stressed.
Deputy speaker of the West European Union Parliamentary Assembly
commented on the Pact's projects which have so far received
endorsement by the international community assessing as worrisome
the slow rate at which the first infrastructure projects in the
region have been implemented.
The money is here ... and we have already lost six months, Jan Dirk
Blaauw said.
A representative of the American Embassy in Zagreb, Charles
English, said because of the fact that not one member of the
Congress had travelled to Zagreb for the summit, the United States
could not sign the final document of the Summit.
The USA will remain a close and reliable partner within the Pact,
the American charge d'affaires said.
The plenary discussion ended with a brief confrontation among
representatives of Cyprus, Turkey and Greece surrounding the
status of divided Cyprus, a part of which has been under Turkey's
control since 1974.
(hina) lml