ROME, Jan 15 (Hina/AR) - A political bilateral commission of Italy and Croatia started its meeting in Rome today.
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ROME, Jan 15 (Hina/AR) - A political bilateral commission of Italy
and Croatia started its meeting in Rome today. #L#
The Croatian delegation is headed by aide to Foreign
Minister, Hido Biscevic, while the Italian representatives are led
by Ambassador Vincenzo Manno.
The head of the Croatian delegation conveyed a message by
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman to Italian President Oscar Luigi
Scalfaro, inviting him to visit Croatia.
'Broader international interests in the light of the new
situation in the region and the new quality of Croatia are helping
us to solve constructively some pseudotechnical questions',
Biscevic told Croatian reporters.
The talks 'stressed that both sides are interested in
reaching agreement on the protection of minority rights as well as
in starting the talks on property and legal rights'.
'Certain progress can be observed because we are talking
about a formulation which would include the real state of affairs
and wider political situation in both countries', Biscevic said.
As regards rights to property and legal rights, the
Croatian side holds that the enjoyed rights cannot be discussed.
After the Paris agreement, part of Istria was divided into the so-
called zone 'A' (Trieste) and zone 'B' (Kopar and Buje region).
Only the Italian optants from the zone 'B', which under the
Osimo Accords became part of Yugoslavia and accordingly of Croatia
and Slovenia, can receive compensation for the abandoned property.
That question was solved by the 1984 Rome Agreement, which
obliged Yugoslavia to pay some 120 million dollars of
indemnification. A part of the sum should be now paid by
Slovenia and Croatia and Zagreb would cooperate with Ljubljana
in solving the problem.
Those talks and the talks on minorities, which
would recognize minority rights only to those Croats who
live in the region of Molisa, as well as to Croats in
other regions, in case their autochthony is established,
should secure a Croatian-Italian agreement on cooperation
and friendship, Biscevic said.
(hina) rm
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