CROATIAN DEPUTY PREMIER RECEIVES OSCE REPS

( Editorial: --> 3903 ) ZAGREB, Nov 26 (Hina) - A delegation of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held talks with representatives of the Croatian government in Zagreb on Wednesday. The talks had focused on the tasks of OSCE's expanded mission in Croatia in the upcoming period, when the organisation is to take over some of the duties performed by the UN hitherto, head of the OSCE chairman's secretariat, Danish Ambassador William Friis Moeller, said after talks between the OSCE delegation and Croatian Deputy Prime Minister, Ljerka Mintas Hodak. Hodak said that the OSCE's main tasks in Croatia would be to supervise the process of stabilisation and creation of complete security in the region, especially Croatia's stable development, including ensuring that all were equal before the law and that the programme of two-way return of displaced persons and refugees was implemented. The departure of the UN and the expansion of the OSCE's mission represented a "new page in the history of cooperation between Croatia and the international community," Moeller said, adding that the OSCE functioned differently from the UN and that Croatia held a more important position in the OSCE that in a much larger organisation such as the UN. Present at the talks were also Croatian Justice Minister Miroslav Separovic, Aide to the Reconstruction and Development Minister, Stjepan Sterc, and the head of the Croatian Office for Displaced Persons and Refugees, Lovre Pejkovic. The OSCE delegation was represented by Moeller and Swiss and Polish Ambassadors. The cooperation and openness with which our delegation had been received in Zagreb pointed to a fertile future cooperation between the OSCE mission and Croatian authorities, Moeller said, expressing conviction that this cooperation would contribute to Croatia's journey towards its deserved position in the European family of states. (hina) lm jn 261755 MET nov 97