PENIC & MORSAN: CROATIA - A SAFE COUNTRY FOR TOURISTS

( Editorial: --> 0180 ) SPLIT, June 10 (Hina) - The Croatian Interior and Tourism Ministers Ivan Penic and Sergej Morsan respectively held a working meeting with county prefects and mayors of some Adriatic towns in Split on Wednesday. The meeting, which focused on preparations for this year's tourist season, was attended by the prefects of Split, Zadar, Sibenik, Dubrovnik and Lika-Senj counties as well as by mayors and superintendents from some Adriatic towns. It was concluded that Croatia is one of the safest tourist countries. More than six million tourists are expected in Croatia this year, Tourism Minister Sergej Morsan said adding that the safety of guests is the basic precondition of tourism development. Tourist safety is our greatest concern and compared to Italy, Hungary, Austria and other countries, Croatia has become one of the safest countries, Interior Minister Ivan Penic said. Our goal is as few accidents as possible, Penic said adding that in the 80's there were 1,600 casualties in car accidents each year, while 714 people were killed in last year's accidents. Participants in today's meeting agreed that attention should also be paid to fire protection. Assistant Interior Minister Josko Moric spoke about preparations for this year's tourist season in regard to the security situation in Osijek and Vukovar counties. Croatia has agreed with Slovenia, Austria and Hungary on cooperation on border crossings, the exchange of information on traffic etc. The Interior Ministry has set up a security headquarters for the season 1998, and all police stations have set up regional headquarters, Moric said. (hina) rml 101328 MET jun 98