SANADER: SLOVENE TERMS FOR CROATIA'S WTO ENTRY INAPPROPRIATE

( Editorial: --> 5067 ) ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - Slovenian attempts to link talks on Croatia's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) with open issues between the two countries have been described by a Croatian official as inappropriate. Television Slovenia on Tuesday reported that Slovenia was conditioning its support for Croatia's membership of the WTO with a resolution of the status of Slovenian real estate in Croatia. But in an interview with Croatian Television (HTV), Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader said Croatia was prepared to sign with Slovenia agreements on property rights relations and the repayment of debts owed by Slovenia's Ljubljanska Banka to Croatian depositors. "From our side there are not any obstacles for this, but I believe it is not appropriate for negotiations on Croatia's entry into the World Trade Organisation to be burdened by these open bilateral issues," Sanader said. "This also would not be well received by the international community, in which Croatia and Slovenia want to be affirmed and emancipated as modern European countries and good neighbours. "NATO and the European Union as well as other multilateral organisations are following and watching how we will arrange our good-neighbourly, mutual relations," the Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister said. HTV added how it had learnt from unofficial sources that Slovenia's conditional support for WTO entry and its demands linked to the jointly-owned nuclear power station Krsko, which is in Slovenian territory, was received in Croatia as "blackmail" and that "official Zagreb was not prepared to accept such moves". (Hina) mbr jn 021325 MET jul 98