HUNGARY BACKS BOSNIA'S BIDS TO ENTER COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND CEFTA

BUDAPEST, May 6 (Hina) - Hungary hopes that the Kosovo crisis will not have a negative impact on the internal stability in Bosnia- Herzegovina, said Zsolt Nemeth, the state secretary at the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, after his talks with Bosnia's Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic on Thursday. The Hungarian official said his country fully supported Bosnia's bids to come closer the European and transatlantic integration processes. We back the admittance of Bosnia into the Council of Europe and the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), Nemeth told a news conference held in Budapest after his meeting with Prlic. Prlic told reporters that he believed that Bosnia would be granted the membership status in the Council of Europe by the end of this year. He thanked Hungary for having offered shelter to many Bosnian refugees and expressed gratitude to Hungarian soldiers, policemen and technicians who were taking part in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Bosnia. Prlic said his country and Hungary had initialled trade and economic agreements last week. The two officials announced that the next round of diplomatic talks would be soon held in Sarajevo. (hina) ms