CROATIA UNVEILS DRAFT ACCORD ON SPECIAL RELATIONS WITH FEDERATION ( Editorial: --> 8388 )

( Editorial: --> 8388 ) ZAGREB, Nov 5 (Hina) - The Croatian President's Chief of Staff, Hrvoje Sarinic, received a delegation of Contact Group ambassadors on Wednesday to present them with the texts of a draft agreement on special relations between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation and a draft agreement on establishing a Council for Cooperation between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Today at noon we presented the texts of draft agreements to Contact Group ambassadors, the chairman of the European Union and ambassadors of the Security Council permanent member states," Sarinic told a news conference in Zagreb after the meeting. He stressed that copies of the agreements were delivered at the same in Sarajevo to the three members of Bosnia-Herzegovina's collective presidency, the president and vice president of the Bosnian Federation, the international High Representative and his deputy. This initiative of the Republic of Croatia "will have, I am firmly convinced, a strong influence on the resolution of the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina and on peace and security in this region," Sarinic said. In drawing up this agreement, Croatia started from the Washington and Dayton agreements both of which had, in their separate ways, contributed to the establishment of peace and to the resolution of the crisis in Bosnia, with the crucial role of the Croat-Bosniac Federation, Sarinic said. "It is unquestionable that the integral part of these agreements is also the previous agreement on the principles and foundations of the establishment of a confederation between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation, as well as the provision on the rights of entities to establish special relations with neighbouring countries," Sarinic said, adding that Croatia had also endeavoured to conform the draft documents to the Constitution of Bosnia- Herzegovina. "In so proposed relations between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation we see guarantees of the existence of the Croat people in Bosnia-Herzegovina and a precondition for solving the Bosnian crisis," Sarinic said. He added that in the drafting of the agreement, Croatia had taken into consideration not only Croat and Bosniac-Moslem, but also wider international interests. Sarinic recalled that the decision on exchanging the draft agreements had been reached during talks between President Tudjman and delegations of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Bosnian Federation in Split in August. Although with a delay (the deadline of 1 September 1997 was set at the meeting), Croatia is so far the only one to have drawn up the documents, and it thus expects a positive attitude and active involvement of the Bosnian Federation in negotiations, but also the full and active support of the main factors of the international community. The adoption of the draft agreements "would doubtless achieve full stability and peace, not only in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but also in the wider region, and would remove the obstacles to the establishment of a new international order in this part of Europe," Sarinic said. Asked about the reactions of representatives of the international community to the two proposed agreements, Sarinic said that they had not had enough time to read them thoroughly, noting that their first reactions had been positive. As regards a proposal on monetary union, Sarinic said that it had been mentioned in the Washington agreement, but not in the Dayton Agreement. He recalled that the drafts of these documents had been based on both agreements. Sarinic said that everybody would probably agree that there was a need for an economic union. "It is hard to imagine an economic union without a monetary union," Sarinic said, reiterating that the draft documents were just a "serious basis" for a long discussion which would eventually produce a final solution. In the afternoon, Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader presented the draft accords to members of the diplomatic corps in Zagreb. (hina) lm jn 051829 MET nov 97