UNHCR CROATIAN MISSION CHIEF CONSIDERS REVIEW OF NGO'S IMPORTAN

( Editorial: --> 8988 ) ZAGREB, Oct 16 (Hina) - A Expo of Non-Government-Organisations (NGO's) in Croatia which is to be held in Zagreb between October 29 and 31 is a very important event for Croatia because it marks the consciousness and awareness of the significance of these organisations and their contribution to the development of society said the UNHCR Missions Chief to Croatia Robin Robinson on Friday. The international community has shown great interest for the expo particularly for this reason, i.e. its contribution to the development of society but also because it portrays the variety and wealth of the activities of NGO's Robinson said at a press conference held in Zagreb. The three-day Croatian NGO's Expo 1998 will attract NGO's concerned with humanitarian issues and the protection of human rights. The expo will be a platform to explain the NGO activities so that people can become aware that these organisations are involved in working to improve the well-being of all Croat citizens and not only individual groups, Robinson said. It is an opportunity for NGO's to present themselves because sometimes NGO's manage to achieve more than international organisations or governments he said. Robinson added that it was not coincidental that the expo has been scheduled to coincide with the forthcoming Conference on Reconstruction and Development, as often enough, foreign investors grant a portion of their funds to NGO's in particular. A Croatian government advisor and the Chief-of-Staff of the Croatian Office to Cooperate with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe Tomislav Vidosevic, said that "recently, the Government has been intensively cooperating with international organisations in Croatia as well as with local NGO's with the aim of creating an atmosphere of joint success on agreed projects". According to Vidosevic, the main objective of the NGO expo is to create ties between local self-administration units and NGO's which can result with concrete assistance in the field, he said. UNHCR spokesman for Croatia Andrej Mahecic informed that over 100 NGO's from Croatia had registered for the expo, while it is expected that the total number to participate will exceede 120, said Mahecic. (Hina) sp 161819 MET oct 98