6,988 EMIGRANTS HAVE RETURNED TO CROATIA IN 1997

( Editorial: --> 2845 ) ZAGREB, Feb 18 (Hina) - A total of 6,988 Croatian emigrants have returned to their home country in 1997, which is 29.5 per cent more than the year before, Return and Immigration Minister Marijan Petrovic told reporters in Zagreb Wednesday. Statistical indicators show that between 1990 and 1997 39,177 Croatian emigrants have returned to Croatia which, said Petrovic, represented a historic turn in migration. The highest number of returnees (14,279) moved in in 1992. Most were political emigrants. Since then, the number of returnees was on the decrease until 1996, when 5,396 returned, said Petrovic. The minister pointed out 20 to 25 per cent should be added to the figure of 39,177, corresponding to the number of non-registered returnees. These figures do not include Croatian immigrants from Bosnia- Herzegovina and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Petrovic said. The general development of Croatian state policy and the passing of a law on the rights of returnees and immigrants will significantly facilitate and step up the already clearly evident return of Croats from abroad, Petrovic said. A confirmation of this statement is the fact that the number of people who had returned and then moved out again was at under one per cent completely insignificant, he concluded. (hina) ha mm 181536 MET feb 98