GERMAN AND CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS HOLD TALKS IN BONN

( Editorial: --> 3098 ) BONN, June 23 (Hina) - With its plan for the return of refugees and displaced persons Croatia is making a key step in approaching the European Union, the granting of the PHARE programme and the holding of a donors' conference on reconstruction, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said in Bonn Tuesday after talks with Croatian counterpart Mate Granic. Germany is interested in Croatia becoming part of Euro-Atlantic integration, Kinkel said. He was satisfied with the contents of a programme the Croatian Government adopted on Saturday. "The plan will be welcomed not only in Germany but in other EU countries as well," Kinkel assessed. He also said that some unclear issues concerning the monitoring role of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in eastern Croatia had also been successfully explained. Croatia is now very close to an international donors' conference on the reconstruction of the country, Kinkel said, adding Germany would advocate in Brussels that Croatia be included in the PHARE programme as soon as possible. The German Foreign Minister said bilateral relations between the Croatia and Germany are very good. Talks with Granic also touched on the Kosovo issue, Kinkel said. "We have agreed that it is necessary to do everything to reach a political-diplomatic solution to the Kosovo crisis", Kinkel said. He announced Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova will visit Bonn this week, and said a Contact Group meeting will also be held in Bonn next week. "Pressure on (Yugoslav President) Milosevic must continue in order to stop the violence and the wave of refugees", Kinkel said. Granic said the return plan resolves the refugee and displaced return issue without any discrimination, on the basis of the Croatian Constitution and legislature and international conventions. Between May 18 and June 19, 505 people have submitted requests to be issued Croatian documents, the Foreign Minister said, adding 40 people have requested travel documents to return to Croatia. At the Croatian Embassy in Belgrade 1,600 people have announced they will submit return requests, Granic said. "If the return process goes according to plan, Croatia expects negotiations on a cooperation agreement with the European Union to commence by year's end", he said. The Kinkel-Granic talks also discussed the peace process in Bosnia- Herzegovina and everything Croatia has been doing to step it up. Granic announced the upcoming opening of a Croatian consulate in Banja Luka in the Bosnian Serb entity. Speaking about Croatia's bilateral relations with Germany, Granic said they are on the rise. He said a German trade agency would be opened in Zagreb by year's end. Later today Granic will meet the German government's commissioner for refugee issues Dietmar Schlee. (hina) ha/bag as 231440 MET jun 98