LOCAL CONFIDENCE BUILDING COMMITTEE HOLDS SESSION IN VINKOVCI

VINKOVCI, March 19 (Hina) - Vukovar-Sirmium County's committee for the building of confidence held a meeting in Vinkovci on Thursday to discuss the return and reconstruction. Each member of the committee submitted their own reports on this issue, read a statement released by the County Prefect Rudolf Koenig. Present at the session, chaired by County Prefect Koenig, were representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who are employed in the Vukovar-based Co- ordination centre and Vinkovci-based office. In their reports the Committee's members concluded mainly that the security situation is good. Representatives of the Serb minority added that there were no significant problems in the Croatian Danube River Area. According to the reports, the gravest problem in this eastern Croatian county is disastrous economic situation, read Koenig's statement. OSCE officials pointed to socially-owned flats and alternative accommodation as the biggest problems. They added that the collective accommodation as alternative was unacceptable, in the opinion of international associations. According to Koenig's statement, some workers of the Vukovar-based OSCE co-ordination centre, however, believed that the collective accommodation is a necessary step since at the moment there is no other way for ensuring the lodging of dislocated persons. County Prefect Koenig requested OSCE representatives to call on the European Commission and other international organisations to assist in solving the grave economic situation in eastern Croatia by offering favourable projects and loans. The county committee also suggested a meeting between heads of housing commissions with the president of the Government's commission for monitoring the conduct of the programme for the return of refugees and displaced people as a part of efforts to settle the problem of socially-owned flats, said the statement. (hina) ms