GRANIC SAYS PRESSURE UNACCEPTABLE METHOD OF SOLVING PROBLEMS

NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said on Sunday that the pressure on Croatia was an unacceptable method of resolving disputed issues in the process of reintegration of the Croatian Danube region and the implementation of the peace agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Any pressure on Croatia is counterproductive," Granic told Croatian reporters in New York where he had arrived on Saturday evening to attend the 52nd session of the UN General Assembly. Granic was scheduled to have a number of bilateral meetings during his stay in New York. "Croatia is willing to fulfil all of its obligations, but demands that the reintegration process end on time," Granic said, adding that Croatia believed that in that process "all essential problems have been solved." The mandate of the UN Transitional Administration (UNTAES) expires on January 15 next year, by which time the process of reintegration of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem should be completed and the transfer of power from the UN authority to Croatia finished. "We don't accept any extension (of the mandate) beyond the 15th," Granic stressed. Meetings in the UN with foreign ministers of the countries involved in the peaceful reintegration process in eastern Croatia and in the peace process in Bosnia-Herzegovina will be an opportunity to discuss a report by the Croatian government on the achievements in the reintegration process and a report by UN Transitional Administrator William Walker, which is expected in early October. Granic reaffirmed Croatia's readiness to cooperate in the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement and its support to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague. However, he criticised the pace of the tribunal's work. On Thursday Granic was scheduled to address representatives of 180 member states of the world organisation. The central topic of his address will be Croatia's position as a Central European and Mediterranean country. (hina) vm 211933 MET sep 97