SPOMENKA CEK ON BOSNIA RECONSTRUCTION CONFERENCE IN BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS, April 13 (Hina) - Croatian Assistant Foreign Minister Spomenka Cek said in Brussles on Saturday that Croatia had so far played an active role in assisting Bosnia-Herzegovina by caring for hundreds of thousands of Bosnian refugees. Cek, who headed a Croatian delegation to a two-day donors' conference for Bosnia-Herzegovina which ended on Saturday, told Hina that Croatia was still caring for a large number of Bosnian refugees, which presented a burden to its budget. Croatia and the Croat-Moslem Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina would begin reconstruction of some communication routes, such as a Sava river bridge at Orasje in northern Bosnia, and investment in the southern Croatian Adriatic port of Ploce which would link Bosnia-Herzegovina to the world. Other projects would include repairs on water supply systems and disposal of land mines, Cek said. Croatia and the Bosnian Federation would ask the World Bank for a loan worth about USD 100 million to finance those projects. A part of the loan would be used for the reconstruction of Croatia and communication routes to Bosnia-Herzegovina, she added. Some donor countries participating in the conference, particularly Canada and Norway, called on the international community to provide aid for reconstruction projects in Croatia. Cek said she had also had biletaral talks with representatives of donor countries on the possibility of organizing a similar conference for aid to Croatia. Cek said that Croatia was in a different position than Bosnia-Herzegovina and that it needed assistance in efforts to enter European integration processes. (hina) vm 131910 MET apr 96