CROATIAN, YUGOSLAV DELEGATION MEET IN ZAGREB FOR TALKS

ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - Representatives of Croatian and Yugoslav delegations today announced that several bilateral agreements might be concluded in the near future. "We will see what course the talks will take - right now, it looks like several of these agreements will be concluded," First Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic said following the first round of talks, which began this morning. The first to be discussed was a package of traffic agreements, which provided for the reopening of the Zagreb-Belgrade highway and the restoration of railway and air traffic, Simonovic said. The two delegations are led by their respective Foreign Ministers, Mate Granic and Milan Milutinovic. The morning session was devoted to establishing the agenda. The Croatian side stressed the need to discuss the issue of missing persons and prisoners, while the Yugoslav delegation insisted on the succession issue. "Normalization of relations between the two countries is the key issue and the most serious agreement we have been discussing," Simonovic said. Yugoslav Assistant Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic expressed satisfaction with this morning's talks. Noting that the talks were "conducted with much mutual respect and a real interest in reaching an agreement on these issues." "The important thing is that these talks will promote the implementation of the Dayton Agreement and the consistent implementation of the Basic Agreement on Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem," Jovanovic said. The talks are to continue this afternoon. (hina) jn mm as 111717 MET mar 96