CROATIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES U.S. AMBASSADOR - STATEMENT

ZAGREB, March 21 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Thursday received the permanent representative of the United States to the United Nations, Madeleine Korbel Albright, the President's Office said in a statement. The main topics discussed included the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the basic agreement on peaceful reintegration of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srijem into Croatia. Hoping that Mrs Albright's visit to Croatia would contribute to the better understanding and deepening of bilateral relations, President Tudjman recalled the main guidelines of Croatian policy: firm support for implementation of the Washington and Dayton accords, revival and strengthening of the Croat-Bosniac (Moslem) Federation as a guarantee of a new and stable international order in the region, and peaceful reintegration of the temporarily occupied Croatian Danubian area as quickly as possible. The President welcomed a positive role of General Jacques Klein, stressing the need for speeding up the reintegration process to avoid any delays which would be to the benefit of Serb extremists. Informing the President about her talks with Belgian General Schoups during today's visit to Eastern Slavonia, Mrs Albright expressed confidence that the UNTAES force would be fully deployed by the end of April, after which the process of demilitarization of the Croatian Danubian area would begin. Ambassador Albright stressed that Croatian Serb leaders would have to convince the Serb population that they were Croatian citizens enjoying the same rights and duties as other citizens of Croatia. The talks also focused on cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. The President said that Croatia supported full cooperation with the Tribunal but that it was necessary to make sure that the process of issuing indictments was objective so that the Tribunal would not contribute to the deepening of a war-created gap between the nations but to their reconciliation and to the implementation of the political settlement. Both sides expressed a wish for Croatia, as a full member of the international community, to join the process of European integrations. In that respect Croatia would have full support from the United States in building a modern and democratic society, implementing the peace accords and establishing a stable international order in the region. Croatian officials attending the talks included Presidential Chief of Staff Ivo Sanader, Foreign Minister Mate Granic, Deputy Prime Ministers Ivica Kostovic and Ljerka Mintas-Hodak, Assistant Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic, Permanent Representative to the UN Mario Nobilo and Assistant Presidential Foreign Policy Adviser Dubravka Plejic-Markovic. Mrs Albright was accompanied by US Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith, Albright's Chief of Staff Elaine Shocas, Spokesman James Rubin, Senior Adviser at the US Mission to the UN David Scheffer, Director for International Organizations and Peace Operations at the National Security Council Colonel Michael Sheehan, Executive Assistant Stuart Jones, Special Assistant James O'Brien, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy Robert Finn and Second Secretary at the US Embassy Dubravka Maric, the statement concluded. (hina) vm 220009 MET mar 96