NATIONAL FEDERATION OF AMERICAN CROATS HOLDS ANNUAL ASSEMBLY

( Editorial: --> 9545 ) WASHINGTON, June 7 (Hina) - The National Federation of Croats of America (NFCA), a lobbyist organisation gathering some 20 Croat associations in the United States, held its fifth annual assembly in Washington. The three-day assembly, which ended on Sunday, gathered envoys from all over the US. NFCA representatives held talks with several US administration and Congress officials, officials of non-government organisations and representatives from the Croatian Embassy in Washington, about relations between the US and Croatia. During a meeting at the White House with the deputy director of the State Department office for South-eastern Europe, Leslie Davidson, the Croats expressed their dissatisfaction about the one-sided politics of the American administration towards Croatia, and about the disregard of the interests of the smallest constitutive people in Bosnia-Herzegovina - Bosnian Croats, NFCA executive deputy president, Steve Rukavina, said on Sunday. American Croats also expressed dissatisfaction to their government about the limited economic assistance Croatia was receiving from the US government's agency, USAID. At a round-table conference with representatives of the Croatian Embassy, Branko Baricevic and Aleksandar Heine, the American Croats were interested in the strategy of the Croatian government in solving current problems in Croatia, such as unemployment and improvement of communication between the Embassy and American Croats. (hina) lml 072001 MET jun 98