CROATIA WANTS GOOD RELATIONS WITH BOSNIA - ASSERTS AMBASSADOR

SARAJEVO, Sept 4 (Hina) - Croatia wants its relations with Bosnia- Herzegovina to be richer and more substantial because it is what both countries need, Croatian Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina Damir Zoric told Sarajevo-based daily Dnevni Avaz in an interview published on Saturday. A country which does not know how or is unable to arrange its relations with neighbours can hardly progress in integration with Euro-Atlantic institutions, Zoric asserted. "It's impossible to build two different worlds along a border stretching more than 1,000 kilometres," the ambassador said, adding Croatia was doing everything to make relations with Bosnia as good as possible. Zoric confirmed that all contacts had been severed with Haris Silajdzic, a co-chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers, by a decision of the Croatian government which came in the wake of Silajdzic's statement that Croatian authorities were responsible for the war in Bosnia. Zoric said Silajdzic's statement indicated that someone had been hypocritical in the building of Croatian-Bosnian relations. Asked why Croatia was stalling with the extradition of Fikret Abdic to Bosnia, Croatia's ambassador said he personally had not received any document relative to the case, and also reminded that Croatia and Bosnia did not have an agreement on extradition. (hina) ha