ISTANBUL SUMMIT: MATESA FOR CHANGES TO OSCE MISSION TO CROATIA

ISTANBUL, Nov 18 (Hina) - Addressing an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit plenary session in Istanbul on Thursday, Croatian Premier Zlatko Matesa expressed a wish for changes to the OSCE Mission to Croatia, namely the adjustment of its activity with the actual situation in Croatia.#L# Speaking at the end of the first plenary session of the two-day summit, which gathers the presidents and premiers of 54 OSCE member-countries, Matesa commended the concept of OSCE mission field presence as the most effective. He recalled Croatia had invited the Mission of its own accord, due to dissatisfaction with the "static international monitoring mechanisms" then active, and that in the three and a half years of its activity in Croatia, the Mission had developed to "one of the largest" in the world. "This mandate comprises the OSCE advisory assistance to the Croatian Government in all aspects of building democracy, stability and civil society: there is no other OSCE mission with such a mandate," said the Croatian premier. He added that as it stood today, the Mission no longer satisfied the real needs of Croatian society. "Croatia welcomes the introduction of new, more adequate and flexible mechanisms, which should replace the old ones, suited rather for a crisis situation than for the relation of partnership in stabilising the region," the premier said. Matesa explained the old mechanisms he referred to are intrusive monitoring and micromanagement in the field that he said still prevails and should be replaced with dialogue of experts, aimed at the "fine tuning of legislation, strengthening of democratic institutions and further development of confidence building measures." In his address, Matesa also spoke about security and arms control mechanisms. He particularly welcomed the adoption of a new and modern version of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty. Croatia considers the Treaty a "key instrument for the enhancement of stability and security in Europe," the premier said, adding Croatia based its conviction on its own experience in the implementation of the Subregional Arms Control Agreement. Speaking about the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe, Matesa said "it is the wish of Croatia to be a pivotal factor in the development and implementation of the Stability Pact in the region." The Croatian premier asserted the Pact was a "mechanism to promote self-aid and the mobilisation of existing resources." He briefed the plenary session on three projects which Croatia considers as priorities; these are the Adriatic Highway Project, the Police Monitoring Project, which draws on UN and OSCE cooperation models, and the International Demining Centre project. At the end of his address, Matesa repeated his invitation to all Stability Pact signatories to come to Croatia, drawing their attention to a proposal of convening speakers of respective parliaments in a meeting tentatively scheduled for April 2000. (hina) ha jn