ROUND TABLES' PRESIDENTS & VICE PRESIDENTS ELECTED IN BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS, Sept 16 (Hina) - The presidents and vice presidents of three Round Tables were elected on Thursday at the first meeting of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe Regional Table in Brussels. Dutch Max van der Stoel, former Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe high commissioner for national minorities, was elected president of the Round Table for Democratisation and Human Rights, for a two-year mandate. Hungary will elect the first vice president of the said round table, as of January 1, 2000 for a six-month mandate. He will be followed by a representative of Romania on July 1, 2000, and Slovenia on January 1, 2001. Fabrizio Saccomanni, international affairs director at the Italian Central Bank, was elected president of the second round table, which will deal with economic revival, development, and cooperation. The second round table's first vice president, for a six-month mandate, will come from Macedonia, and will be followed by representatives from Turkey and Albania. Jan Eliasson, state secretary at the Swedish Foreign Ministry, was elected president of the third round table, which will deal with security issues. His deputy will on January 1, 2000 come from Bosnia-Herzegovina, to be followed after a six-month mandate by Bulgaria, and then Croatia. The round tables will convene their first meetings in October, the first round table in Switzerland, the second in Italy, and the third in Norway. (hina) ha jn