NO PROGRESS AT LATEST TALKS ON PREVLAKA - CROATIAN OFFICIAL

BELGRADE, March 10 (Hina) - An assistant to the Croatian Foreign Minister, Josip Paro, last night said there had been no significant progress at Tuesday's talks on Prevlaka held by Croatian and Yugoslav commissions for borders. The Croatian official told Belgrade reporters that it was, however, encouraging that the two countries would continue negotiations on the status of this peninsula. He did not say when the next meeting would be held. Paro added that traditional disagreements in standpoints of Croatia and Yugoslavia (Serbia/Montenegro) had been expressed during Tuesday's talks, because his country held that interstate frontier had been determined and therefore Prevlaka (the southernmost Croatian peninsula bordering with Montenegro) should be treated as a security question, while the Yugoslav side insisted on the defining of the border line, the news agency 'Beta' reported last night. He added that Belgrade had refused a Croatian proposal that Prevlaka be a demilitarised area. Croatia suggests that Prevlaka should be treated as a security issue and that we should seek such solution which would remove the necessity of the presence of the third party such is the current UN mission there, Paro explained adding that the United Nations had reduced its mission on this peninsula as tension in the area had decreased. Asked about a decision of Montenegrin Government to abolish visas for tourists, Paro responded that the question of visas is an internal matter of Yugoslavia and added that Croatia welcomed each move which contribute to the openness. (hina) ms