NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic held talks in New York on Tuesday with the special US representative for the implementation of the peace process in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Robert Gelbard. Granic is on
Wednesday to hold talks with US State Secretary Madeleine Albright.
NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic
held talks in New York on Tuesday with the special US
representative for the implementation of the peace process in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Robert Gelbard.
Granic is on Wednesday to hold talks with US State
Secretary Madeleine Albright. #L#
"The talks were open on all issues," Granic said after a
working lunch with Gelbard, and added that they had tackled all
key elements from the issue of timely completion of the process
of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area,
Croatia's role in the peace process in Bosnia and its cooperation
with the Hague Tribunal, to American pressures including the
blocked loan for Croatia at the International Monetary Fund and
the request for Croatia's suspension at the Council of Europe.
"I can say now that Gelbard had said that the United
State's goal was that the UNTAES mission ends successfully, that
it be a joint success of Croatia, US and UN, and that it ends by
15 January next year," Granic said.
"I believe it is the mutual goal both of Croatia and US to
have partnership relations, in the interest of peace and
stability in this part of Europe and to the benefit of bilateral
relations between the two countries," Granic said.
Before his talks with Gelbard, Granic held talks with his
Turkish and French counterparts, Ismail Cem and Hubert Vedrine.
Cem and Granic agreed that a trilateral meeting of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Croatia and Turkey, at the level of foreign
ministers, should take place before the end of the year, with the
aim of strengthening the cooperation of the Bosnian Federation
with Croatia and Turkey.
"Croatia hails Turkey's role in the peace process in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, especially in the phase of creating the
Washington Agreement," Granic said.
Bilateral relations were also a focus of the meeting with
the French Foreign Minister. The Croatian side presented its
views about the process of reintegration of the Croatian Danubian
area, normalisation of relations with Belgrade and the peace
process in Bosnia, Granic said, stressing that Vedrine had
applauded the steps taken so far in the normalisation of
relations with Belgrade, as well as the latest steps the Croatian
government had taken toward the completion of the peaceful
reintegration.
The talks also focused on Croatia's position in world
financial institutions and the Council of Europe, in the light of
pressures from America.
France had indicated that it would reach its stance in
coordination with other European Union countries, as well as
regarding the IMF which faces the decision about granting a loan
to Croatia and the Council of Europe at which the United States
had initiated the issue of Croatia's suspension.
During talks with the Sri Lanka Foreign Minister, Lakshman
Kadirgamar, an agreement had been reached on an exchange of
business delegations.
During talks with his Argentinean counterpart, Guido do
Tell, an agreement had been reached that Tell visits Croatia with
an Argentinean business delegation, within the next several
months.
(hina) lm
232309 MET sep 97