CEI SUPPORTS AN INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE IN KOSOVO

( Editorial: --> 9276 ) ZAGREB, July 22 (Hina) - A meeting of national coordinators of the Central European Initiative (CEI) - a regional inter-state organisation presided by Croatia this year - ended on Wednesday in Trieste. The Croatian Foreign Ministry says that during the two-day meeting, the National Coordinators Committee accepted the CEI fact-finding mission report. The mission visited the border area between Albania and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This is the first such mission organised by the CEI and it was lead by Vladimir Drobnjak, an assistant to Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic. The CEI will submit its report to the Contact Group and European Union members, as well as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The National Coordinators Committee expressed special gratitude to Croatia for its successful organising of the mission. The Committee recommended CEI members make further efforts in order to provide the presence of international community representatives in Kosovo, with the purpose of stopping the battles. It deems that the southern Yugoslav province needs a long-term OSCE mission. The Committee also delivered a recommendation to the governments of CEI member-countries to investigate the possibilities of sending humanitarian aid to Albania's northern region. It was also decided that the CEI should send a new fact-finding mission in cooperation with the Albanian Government in mid- November. The Croatian embassy made an announcement on preparations for the First CEI Economic Forum to be held in Zagreb from November 19 to 21. The Forum should be organised within the framework of prime ministers' meetings. In the same period, a conference of foreign investment agencies and the CEI members' chambers of commerce will be organised. (Hina) is jn/mbr 222053 MET jul 98