CROATIA AND YUGOSLAVIA SIGN SIX AGREEMENTS

BELGRADE, Sept 15 (Hina) - Ministers of foreign affairs of Croatia and Yugoslavia, Mate Granic and Milan Milutinovic, signed six agreements in Belgrade on Monday in line with an agreement on the normalization of relations the two countries signed in 1996. According to statements made to reporters afterwards, the two foreign ministers assessed today's agreement signing as a step forward in the normalization of relations between Croatia and Yugoslavia. They assessed the overall activity achieved to date in realizing the normalization agreement as positive too, and announced a continuation of talks. Granic and Milutinovic gave a positive assessment of the Bosnian municipal election as well, and voiced support for the Dayton peace accord. Yugoslavia's Milutinovic pointed out in particular the importance of a local border traffic agreement which, as he said, established a soft border between Croatia and Yugoslavia and created an area where residents could cross undisturbed. In the foreseeable future, Yugoslavia would try to settle issues concerning dual citizenship and the cancellation of visas, Milutinovic said. The Yugoslav foreign minister also pointed out the importance of an international legal assistance agreement, whose enforcement would enable a faster flow of people. Milutinovic announced many other economic and financial agreements by the end of the year. Croatia's Granic pointed out the importance the agreements signed today had for the completion of the peaceful reintegration of the Danube region of eastern Croatia into Croatia's constitutional and legal system. Granic was confident the mission of the UN transitional administration in Croatia would be the most successful of all missions to date, and would end by 15 January 1998. Croatia agreed to a monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, since it would guarantee the protection of rights of all residents of the Croatian Danube region, the Croatian foreign minister said. "We concluded that the signing of today's agreements was a significant step towards European peace and stability in this territory", said Granic. Today's talks also focused on the issue of missing persons, the protection of minorities and the necessity of stepping up negotiations on succession, Granic said. He announced delegations of Croatian and Yugoslav interior ministries would hold talks on fighting drugs and terrorism, the cancellation of visas, the establishment of a borderline, economic, trade and financial cooperation, and on air transport. (hina) ha jn 151442 MET sep 97