SPAIN AND CROATIA TO INTENSIFY BILATERAL COOPERATION

MADRID, July 21 (Hina) - The Spanish-Croatian bilateral ties and the course of a peace process in the area of the former Yugoslavia were main topics of Monday's talks between Spanish Premier Jose Mario Aznar and his Croatian counterpart, Zlatko Matesa, in Madrid. "Croatia holds that the peace process is proceeding in a satisfactory manner at all relevant points. Regarding the situation in Croatia, peaceful reintegration of the Danube river area, is entering its final stage, and Croatia is set to work further on the return of displaced people and refugees to their homes," Matesa said at a joint news conference in the Spanish capital. Speaking of the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatian Premier said that his country committed itself to implementation of the Dayton and Washington accords. He described the implementation of those agreements as a complex process and added that it demanded cooperation of all parties involved. Matesa stressed that Croatia was ready to fulfil its obligations but it alone could not do some things. He added that his country was calling on Bosnia's senior officials to hold a summit and make a step forward in realisation of peace accords. Responding to a question of reporters, he said that Croatia was ready to cooperate further with the International Tribunal in The Hague. He added that every war crimes suspect who happened to be in the territory of Croatia, would be extradited to this Criminal Tribunal, and assessed that it would be good for the overall situation in the region and for the peace process that the Tribunal speed up procedures. Premiers Matesa and Aznar agreed that the bilateral cooperation should be intensified through the exchange of visits of the two countries' senior officials and businessmen. They described shipbuilding, telecommunications, transport and tourism as fields in which they have mutual interest for cooperation. Premier Aznar said that it was certainly evident that Croatia would like to be included very soon into the European Union and other Western institutions and therefore it was important for that country to fulfil international obligations it had assumed. (hina) mš 211647 MET jul 97