FOUR EX-YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT ON SUCCESSION

WASHINGTON, Feb 29 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia have warned they will claim compensation from any entity which, in the process of defreezing the assets of the former Yugoslavia, may cause damage to their interests and rights as successor states to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The foreign ministers of the four countries on Thursday issued a statement on the succession issue and sent it to the UN Security Council and General Assembly. From the outset of negotiations on succession within the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia, the delegation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) had been impeding efforts to reach an agreement on the distribution of assets of the former Yugoslavia, the statement said. "Our Governments would like to point out the fact that as a consequence of the dissolution of the SFRY, the National Bank of Yugoslavia, as the central bank of the former SFRY, has ceased to exist," it said. "Consequently, our Governments do not recognize any mandates from the former National Bank of Yugoslavia and the new institution which bears the same name," the statement said. (hina) vm mm 292212 MET feb 96