ZAGREB SATURDAY ZAGREB, May 21 (Hina) - Senior officials of countries neighbouring with Yugoslavia, as well as of Greece, Hungary, Turkey and Slovenia, will meet in Zagreb on Saturday to discuss the Stability Pact in south-eastern
Europe and prepare proposals for the plan which should establish a permanent peace in the region. Croatia has invited senior officials of foreign ministries of countries which should be included in the Stability Pact, so they could agree on joint interests to be included into the Pact. "It is a preparation for a meeting on the Stability Pact to be held in Bonn on May 27," spokesman for the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Zeljko Trkanjec, told Hina on Friday. With this initiative, Croatia is showing it does not wish to be just an object, but also a subject in the creation of the future Stability Pact which will determine the future of countries of south-eastern Europe. "This is some of Croatia's efforts to acti
ZAGREB, May 21 (Hina) - Senior officials of countries neighbouring
with Yugoslavia, as well as of Greece, Hungary, Turkey and
Slovenia, will meet in Zagreb on Saturday to discuss the Stability
Pact in south-eastern Europe and prepare proposals for the plan
which should establish a permanent peace in the region.
Croatia has invited senior officials of foreign ministries of
countries which should be included in the Stability Pact, so they
could agree on joint interests to be included into the Pact.
"It is a preparation for a meeting on the Stability Pact to be held
in Bonn on May 27," spokesman for the Croatian Foreign Ministry,
Zeljko Trkanjec, told Hina on Friday.
With this initiative, Croatia is showing it does not wish to be just
an object, but also a subject in the creation of the future
Stability Pact which will determine the future of countries of
south-eastern Europe.
"This is some of Croatia's efforts to actively participate in
moulding a solution for the stabilisation of the neighbouring
region," Trkanjec said.
He stressed it is to be an informal, consultative and working
meeting on an expert level, at which the countries will exchange
views of the current situation in the region, as well as search for
solutions for its stabilisation.
According to Trkanjec, there is no document or suggestion to be
discussed, but the goal was to reach a possible common denominator
in the interests of all participants, which would then be presented
at the meeting in Bonn.
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said earlier the meeting in
Zagreb should also focus on which countries should be included in
the Pact.
Croatia is insisting on the idea that the Pact should include not
only countries of the Balkans, but also a wide circle of countries
of south-eastern Europe, from Slovenia and Hungary to Greece and
Turkey, and that the approach to every country should be
individual.
Croatia expects the Pact to help it accelerate its access into Euro-
Atlantic associations, Granic said.
He stressed Croatia accepted the idea of the Stability Pact, but
refuses the idea of a new association, be it a Balkan association or
a south-eastern Europe association.
A preliminary meeting for the conference on the Pact is to take
place in Petersberg near Bonn on May 27 on the level of directors,
and then an international conference should follow in mid-June. The
Pact should be formally adopted at the conference.
The goal of the Pact is to ensure... a long-term stabilisation,
security, democratisation and economic reconstruction and
development of the region, a draft document on the Pact discussed by
the EU Council of Ministers in Brussels on Monday said.
Economic assistance for member-countries is one of the key factors
in the stabilisation of the region and the new European Commission
president, Romano Prodi, assessed recently that the EU should
invest about EUR5 million annually to ensure permanent peace in the
region of south-eastern Europe.
The EU also intends to organise a donors' conference to ensure funds
for the reconstruction of south-eastern Europe.
(hina) lml