$ ZAGREB, Sept 25 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader told the Croatian television on Wednesday evening that the US State Department's note forwarded to the Council of Europe regarding Croatia was another one in a
row of pressures on Croatia.
SANADER
$
ZAGREB, Sept 25 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo
Sanader told the Croatian television on Wednesday evening that
the US State Department's note forwarded to the Council of Europe
regarding Croatia was another one in a row of pressures on
Croatia. #L#
"I hold this to be an inappropriate act… and… inappropriate
contents which does not correspond with the factual situation in
Croatia. With this I mean the overall Croatian territory,
including the Croatian Danubian area," Sanader said.
"In principle, I believe that there is no need for such
unprincipled or any other pressures on the Croatian government
because Croatia is fulfilling its commitments in full. When it
comes to the Danube river region, it is known that a special
Croatian government session took place on Monday during which all
relevant ministries submitted reports and a joint document was
created as a report about everything that the Croatian government
had done in the Danubian area in all departments, in line with
the Erdut Agreement, and even more so, in line with the Letter of
Intent of the Croatian government from this January," Sanader
added. "Within the next 10-12 days, the (government) must
adopt another… programme for the upcoming months. The programme
will focus on the so-called strengthening of trust, on the
normalisation of relations, and so on, in the Danubian area, and,
after it is adopted by the Croatian government, we shall give the
document to all our partners, the diplomatic corps, as well as
the Council of Europe and the United Nations," Sanader said.
"Croatia fully supports the Washington Agreement, it fully
supports the Dayton Agreement," Sanader stressed, adding that all
steps taken by the Croatian government in the implementation of
these agreements were not the result of pressures from abroad,
but were the result of Croatia's consistent politics.
"We are conducting a consistent foreign policy, state
policy, which has been recognisable from the beginning of
Croatia's sovereignty and international recognition until the
present. It is perhaps a little ironic that in a situation when
the Croatian Parliament ratifies the Council of Europe
conventions, and it ratified them on Friday and this was another
one of our commitments from 6 November 1996 when we were admitted
into the Council of Europe as full member… that someone, albeit
our friends Americans, suggests the suspension or revaluation of
Croatia's membership," he said.
Sanader added that the meeting between Croatian Foreign
Minister Mate Granic and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
which is to take place in New York on Wednesday, would be another
opportunity for the United States, considered by Croatia as a
strategic partner and friendly country, to get acquainted with
everything that had been done in the peaceful reintegration of
the Croatian Danubian area.
(hina) lm
251021 MET sep 97