CROATIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER SPEAKS ABOUT RIGHTS OF MINORITIES

GORICA, Nov 27 (Hina) - The protection of rights of national minorities has been built into the foundation of Croatia's internal and foreign policies, Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader said at a symposium on the protection of minorities held on Friday. The two-day symposium which began on Thursday gathered professors of central European universities and representatives of foreign ministries of member-countries of the Central European Initiative (SEI). In his speech, Sanader recalled bilateral agreements on the protection of minorities Croatia had signed with Hungary and Italy, at the level of highest European standards. He stressed that Croatia was among the first countries to have signed the SEI Instrument on the protection of minorities, and has also signed and ratified the UN Security Council convention on minorities, and included it in its laws. Sanader warned that the issue of protection of the Croat minority in Yugoslavia had not been solved in a satisfactory manner. "While Croatia has solved the status of the Serb minority, it needs to be stressed that the Croat minority has not yet been recognised in Yugoslavia," Sanader said. (hina) lml mm