CRO PRESIDENT RECEIVES CREDENTIALS FROM NEW IRANIAN AMBASSADOR

ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Friday received credentials from the new Iranian Ambassador, Keyvan Imani. President Tudjman said Croatia ascribed great importance to the development of good relations with Iran, and highly regarded the fact that Teheran had been among the first to recognise Croatia's independence and had, with its influence, contributed to the settlement of the Bosnian crisis. Tudjman further said there exist good foundations for further development of economic relations, especially in view of Iran's interest in Croatian shipbuilding and Croatia's interest in Iranian oil. Ambassador Imani said Iran supported every aspect of cooperation between Croatia and Bosnia which, he emphasised, was significant for sustaining stability in the region. Important steps in that regard were, according to Imani, the signing of a special relations agreement between Croatia and one of Bosnia's two entities, the Croat-Moslem Federation, and an agreement on the Croatian port of Ploce and passage through Neum, Bosnia's access to the Adriatic Sea. Imani also said that Iranian President Mohamed Hatami had presented a theory focusing on dialogue among civilisations as an answer to "some theories on conflicts among civilisations." The United Nations General Assembly adopted, by a majority of vote, Hatami's motion that 2001 be proclaimed the year of dialogue among civilisations. President Tudjman said Croatia supported Hatami's initiative. (hina) ha