PRESIDENT MESIC RECEIVES CITIZENS AT OFFICIAL RESIDENCE

ZAGREB, Dec 16 (Hina) - President Stipe Mesic on Saturday received several groups of citizens at his official residence, telling them resolving the unemployment issue was one of Croatia's main tasks. Talking to a group of citizens from the coastal town of Sinj, he said unemployment was being tackled, "if a little too slowly." He reminded a certain number of people had found employment during the summer tourist season, but that it had been only a "drop in the ocean." The president agreed with Sinj's residents tourism represented an opportunity to sell Croatian agricultural products. The government's task is to open new positions which is feasible only if Croatia is a zone of security, he told them after they informed him of the dire economic situation in their region. Mesic stressed a wrong privatisation model had ruined many production plants and companies, closing down jobs. We now have to correct that, prosecute those accountable, and pass a development strategy, which the government is working on, he said. Talking to pupils of an Italian high school from Pula, the president said the European Union was Croatia's goal and destiny. You are already working in that direction in education and culture, he told the pupils who, besides Italian and Croatian, are fluent in other world languages. Mesic also received children and youth inmates of Dubrava, an education and training centre in Zagreb, children, teachers and the director of SOS children's villages Lekenik and Ladimirovac, and pupils and teachers from a Zagreb private high school. All the guests brought the president presents. (hina) ha