PORTUGAL BACKS CROATIA'S E.U. AND NATO MEMBERSHIP BID

( Editorial: --> 0281 ) ZAGREB, Dec 22 (Hina) - Portugal will support Croatia in its efforts to enter the European Union and NATO, Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama said in Zagreb on Monday after meeting his Croatian counterpart Mate Granic. Croatia's place is in Europe and Portugal sees Croatia as a full member of the EU and NATO within a very short period of time, said Gama, who arrived in Zagreb on Sunday. Noting that Portugal was a member of the EU and the UN Security Council, Gama said that his country would support Croatia in its bid to achieve its strategic foreign policy goals. He expressed hope that the EU would resume negotiations on relations with Croatia in a short time. We believe that now is the right time for negotiations with the EU and NATO and for the completion of negotiations with the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), Granic said. The two ministers assessed that the bilateral relations between the two countries were improving. Gama was the highest Portuguese official to officially visit Croatia. He said that Portugal would open a diplomatic mission in Zagreb next year. Granic announced that the two countries would sign several economic agreements and a cultural cooperation agreement early next year. The two ministers also discussed the situation in the region, with Gama positively evaluating Croatia's efforts in the peaceful reintegration of the UN-administered Danube river region and its contribution to the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Speaking of the current Croatian efforts to establish special ties with the Bosnian Moslem-Croat Federation and to solve the issues of access to the Croatian seaport of Ploce and passage to the Bosnian coastal town of Neum, Granic said that those agreements should be signed on the basis of the Washington and Dayton accords, the final documents of the Peace Implementation Council adopted at conferences in Sintra and Bonn, and the Constitution of Bosnia- Herzegovina. We are informed that the government of the Bosnian federation is willing to negotiate with Croatia, and I expect negotiations to begin immediately after the New Year, Granic said. (hina) vm 221419 MET dec 97