CROATIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER ARRIVES IN INDONESIA

DJAKARTA, March 24 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic on Sunday arrived in Djakarta, the first stop of his nine-day official visit to southeastern Asia. Besides Indonesia, Granic would also visit Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand at the invitation of foreign ministers of these countries. Upon arrival in Djakarta, Granic said that the purpose of his visit was to establish permanent contacts which would later develop into good economic relations. "Croatia is primarily oriented towards European integrations but it also wants to be open to all countries with which it can develop and promote political and economic cooperation," he said. Granic stressed that Croatia was very interested in developing economic relations with the four countries. He said that Malaysia and Indonesia played an important role in the Non-Alligned Movement, the Organization of Islamic Countries and the UN Security Council. These two predominantly Moslem nations were interested in cooperation with the Moslem-Croat federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina and in joint projects with Croatian and Bosnia- Herzegovina, he added. Granic was expected to open Croatian embassies in Indonesia and Malaysia. On Monday he was scheduled to meet his Indonesian counterpart Ali Alatas and deliver a lecture in the Research and Development Forum of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry. (hina) vm 241955 MET mar 96