MADRID CONFERENCE ++MADRID, Dec 15 (Hina) - The United States has a very positive +opinion of the agreements on special relations and the port of Ploce +and Neum, and it also welcomes the diplomatic resolution of the +problem of
Martin Brod, said Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic, +who is attending a two-day meeting of the Peace Implementation +Council in Madrid.+ Granic said he had been told this during a half-an-hour meeting with +US Under-Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and US envoy for Bosnia-+Herzegovina Robert Gelbard.+ Granic said his meeting with High Representative Carlos +Westendorp, this morning, and the meeting with Talbott had +confirmed that the question of Martin Brod would be resolved, along +with other open questions, by a mixed Croatian-Bosniak commission +for borders.+ Talbott also expressed his government's support for the resolution +of the problem of Croatia's southernmost penin
MADRID, Dec 15 (Hina) - The United States has a very positive
opinion of the agreements on special relations and the port of Ploce
and Neum, and it also welcomes the diplomatic resolution of the
problem of Martin Brod, said Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic,
who is attending a two-day meeting of the Peace Implementation
Council in Madrid.
Granic said he had been told this during a half-an-hour meeting with
US Under-Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and US envoy for Bosnia-
Herzegovina Robert Gelbard.
Granic said his meeting with High Representative Carlos
Westendorp, this morning, and the meeting with Talbott had
confirmed that the question of Martin Brod would be resolved, along
with other open questions, by a mixed Croatian-Bosniak commission
for borders.
Talbott also expressed his government's support for the resolution
of the problem of Croatia's southernmost peninsula of Prevlaka,
most probably in the form of a new resolution of the UN Security
Council, which should discuss this issue in mid January.
Granic also mentioned the possibility of US mediation concerning
Prevlaka, if the Yugoslav side agrees to it.
"Indications of dialogue between the Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ) and the Opposition have also been positively assessed",
Granic stressed.
The US officials expressed satisfaction with the measures Croatia
had undertaken as well as with the way the refugee return programme
was being implemented and Croatia's proposals concerning changes
to three discriminative laws. They also expressed satisfaction
with the recent meeting between Croatian President Franjo Tudjman
and Robert Gelbard, Granic added.
American sources have reported that the US diplomats expressed
dissatisfaction with some segments of a speech delivered by
President Tudjman during Monday's opening of a veterans' military
academy "Ban Josip Jelacic". According to those sources, Talbott
and Gelbard said the US citizens in Croatia were feeling
uncomfortable because they were being stigmatised as spies, in
spite of their friendly attitude towards the Croat people.
Granic asserted that the American-Croatian relations were strong
and could not be jeopardised by quotations from President Tudjman's
speech that had been taken out of the context.
(hina) mm rml