CROATIAN REPS TO ATTEND SEVERAL WORKING MEETINGS IN WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Hina) - Although it is not a member of NATO or the Partnership for Peace, Croatia has been invited to attend several working meetings to be held in Washington during a summit NATO will organise to mark its 50th anniversary. A Croatian delegation at the meetings will be led by Foreign Minister Mate Granic. Assistant Defence Minister Kresimir Cosic is also in the delegation. On Thursday evening, Granic will attend a working dinner given by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the State Department, Croatia's Ambassador to the United States, Miomir Zuzul, said on Thursday. Present at the dinner will be the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania and Slovenia, and they will discuss the situation in south- east Europe in light of the Kosovo crisis. The respectable U.S. Institute for Peace has used the occasion to organise a conference on crisis or stability in the Balkans, to be held on Friday. Croatia's Granic, Albania's President Rexhep Meidani, BH Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic and a Kosovo Albanian representative Veton Surroi will deliver speeches at a round table on the escalation of the crisis. The Croatian delegation will on Sunday participate in the working part of a session of NATO's Partnership Council, which is to discuss Kosovo among other topics. An international conference on security issues at the beginning of the 21st century will also start on Sunday. One of the topics the conference will address is NATO's tasks in south-east Europe. Ambassador Zuzul and Assistant Minister Cosic were invited to the conference and to a working lunch on Tuesday. (hina) rml