CROATIA WANTS TO REDUCE INT OBSERVER PRESENCE ON ITS TERRITORY

OSLO, Dec 3 (Hina) - The seventh conference of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Council of Ministers in Oslo has so far focused on the Kosovo crisis, and OSCE's next autumn summit in Istanbul, when a charter on security in Europe should be adopted, Croatia's Anto Nobilo said on Thursday. According to Nobilo, Croatia's Vienna-based Ambassador to OSCE's Standing Mission, OSCE's role in Europe's security in the future should consist in preventive diplomacy and post-conflict stabilisation. NATO should become the principal guarantor of peace and stability in Europe, he emphasised. The Ambassador added that some more compromises would most probably be reached with regard to role distribution before the Istanbul summit. This, he said, in particular refers to Russia which, due to its size and the problems it is facing, must be part of the system but, said Nobilo, not as a mere member, but as a factor calling for special partner relations. Nobilo also pointed out to the importance 1999 holds for Croatia, in view of Croatia's desire to gradually yet completely reduce the presence of international observers on its territory. "We need a new quality of cooperation with the international community, and the European Union in particular. Now we have to engage experts who would work on standardising Croatian legislation, economy, and other institutions, in order to achieve compatibility with European standards," Nobilo said. (hina) ha jn