BRUSSELS BRUSSELS, Nov 6 (Hina) - A promotional flight on Monday inaugurated the regular line between Zagreb and Brussels which Croatia Lines has set up.
BRUSSELS, Nov 6 (Hina) - A promotional flight on Monday inaugurated
the regular line between Zagreb and Brussels which Croatia Lines
has set up.#L#
"With the establishment of the flight for Brussels - the European
Union headquarters - Croatia Airlines would like to contribute to
Croatia's bids to join economic and political integration
processes in Europe," said the company's director Ivan Misetic upon
the plane's landing in Brussels on Monday.
Misetic added that the flights between Zagreb and the Belgian
capital would be carried out five days a week, describing this as a
new segment in Croatia's tourist offer.
Croatia's European Integration Minister, Ivan Jakovcic, who was
aboard this first plane, stressed that the introduction of this
line was also the confirmation that Croatia was not only
symbolically but also really coming near to Europe in light of the
forthcoming commencement of negotiations between Zagreb and the EU
on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA).
It is very well known that Brussels is not only the capital of
Belgium but it is also the administrative centre of Europe, and I am
sure that this line will help promote Croatia's beauty to Europe and
bring many Europeans to Croatia, Jakovcic said in his speech he
delivered in Zagreb on the occasion of the opening of the new
service of Croatia Airlines.
Asked whether his presence at the first flight between Zagreb and
Brussels could be viewed as a symbolic confirmation of Croatia's
stronger approach to the EU, the head of the European Commission's
mission in Zagreb, Per Vinther, agreed this could be interpreted
so. He added that it was definitely in his interest that by the end
of this month the negotiations on the SAA should begin and in the
mid-2001 be completed, so that in some time, perhaps in ten years,
Croatia might become a full member of the EU.
The Croatian national flag carrier offered flights from Zagreb to
Brussels in the period 1994-1996 and today's promotional flight was
actually the resumption of this service.
The planes will fly between Zagreb and Brussels every day except
weekends.
(hina) ms