CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S CHIEF OF STAFF SIGNS BOOK OF CONDOLENCES

ZAGREB, April 10 (Hina) - The Croatian President's Chief of Staff, Ivo Sanader, on Wednesday signed a book of condolences on the deaths of US Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown and a US government and business delegation in a plane crash, the President's Office said in a statement. "On behalf of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and myself, I express my deepest sympathy to the family of Secretary Brown and families of the victims, the US government and the friendly American people. "Secretary Brown and the US officials and business people came to this country with the sincere intention to help, thus confirming that the friendship and partnership of Croatia and the United States are a permanent commitment. "Sorrow for their tragic deaths stopped for a moment such efforts of our peoples, but at the same time it left us an obligation and task to finish their job as soon as possible," Sanader wrote in the book of condolences opened in the US Embassy in Zagreb. (hina) vm 101904 MET apr 96