CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE SUMMIT STARTS IN BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST, Nov 25 (Hina) - A summit gathering the heads of government of the 16 Central European Initiative (CEI) countries started in Budapest on Saturday. Croatia's delegation at the summit is headed by Prime Minister Ivica Racan. It is expected that the meeting will discuss the situation in the region and the status of negotiations of each Initiative's member in the process of drawing closer to the European Union. Croatia's prime minister will inform other heads of government about the conclusions of Friday's summit in Zagreb, and Foreign Minister Tonino Picula about the decisions of yesterday's meeting of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative. Yugoslavia, which participates for the first time, will submit a request for admission, which could be accepted immediately as the next summit will be held in a year's time. Racan today met his Bulgarian counterpart Ivan Kostov, whom he informed about the results of the Zagreb summit. The Croatian premier expressed satisfaction that the summit's declaration emphasised the individual approach in accessing Euro-Atlantic associations. Kostov used the opportunity to invite Racan to visit Bulgaria before Christmas. Racan could not confirm that he would be able to visit Sofia before that date as the two countries had the adoption of their budgets ahead of them. (hina) rml