CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER RECEIVES UNHCR MISSION CHIEF

ZAGREB, Sept 10 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic on Wednesday received the newly-appointed chief of the UNHCR mission in Croatia, Robert Robinson, a Foreign Ministry statement said. Granic informed Robinson about the process of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region, expressing expectations that the UNTAES mandate in the region would successfully terminate on January 15 next year. Under a programme of return of displaced persons, drawn up by the Croatian government, the UN Transitional Administration in the Danube region (UNTAES) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 800 persons had returned from the region to other areas of Croatia in an organised way while about 6,000 had returned individually, Granic said. Robinson noted that the UNHCR mission was preparing new programmes of aid in the sphere of health and education, which would be financed from the mission's budget for the next year. Describing the cooperation between the UNHCR and the Croatian government as good and useful, Granic and Robinson expressed a desire that such cooperation would continue, the statement concluded. (hina) vm jn 101845 MET sep 97