CRO MINISTER GRANIC MEETS RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in New York Friday. The Russian minister expressed concern about the situation in the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo, due to poor safety situation. Ivanov told reporters that reasons for that was the mass departure of Serbs and fully opened borders with Albania. Ivanov and Granic discussed possible solutions for the Kosovo crisis, as well as the situation in Yugoslavia and Southeast Europe. The two ministers share standpoints on the need for the implementation of the Dayton Agreement on Bosnia-Herzegovina. Granic said that Croatia condemned any form of terrorism, including the newest wave of terrorism that Moscow was exposed to. There are no contentious issues between Russia and Croatia, the two ministers assessed. Both, Granic and Ivanov will advocate the reconstruction of a joint international commission for economic cooperation. One of the commission's duties is to discuss Russia's dept to Croatia. The Russian and Croatian foreign ministers also tackled the final solution for the Prevlaka security issue as well as the succession of the former Yugoslavia. The two officials also addressed cooperation between Croatia and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. (hina) it