PENIC RECEIVES SLOVAK INTERIOR MINISTER

ZAGREB, June 24 (Hina) - Croatian Interior Minister Ivan Penic received his Slovak colleague Ladislav Pittner in Zagreb on Thursday. The two ministers discussed cooperation between Croatian and Slovak police in the field of legal and illegal migrations, particularly in the struggle against organised crime. We particularly tackled the cooperation in the struggle against international crime, Penic said and added that branches of the crime organisations connected Croatia and Slovakia. Despite the fact that the two countries do not share a border, Croatia and Slovakia have common objectives in central European region, Pittner said. According to Penic, the international crime is impossible to control without cooperation. Penic and Pittner also discussed border and border control issues in the spirit of the Schengen and Amsterdam agreements, and said that both countries were in the similar situation; surrounded by NATO member-countries and countries included in the Schengen Agreement (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria). Referring to the cooperation with Slovak citizens, Penic said that 131,000 Slovak tourists were vacationing in Croatia in 1998, and only minor incidents were reported. The two ministers also addressed the situation in the region, including the situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the return of a large number of refugees to Kosovo. They agreed that Croatia and Slovakia have the same standpoints regarding the events in the FRY. Both countries supported the United States, NATO, and western Europe, Penic said. (hina) it