GRANIC MEETS VOJVODINA CROATS' LEADER TONKOVIC

BELGRADE, 23 Aug (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic met with a delegation of the Democratic Alliance of Vojvodina Croats, led by the Alliance's president Bela Tonkovic in Belgrade on Friday. #L# Tonkovic expressed great satisfaction with the signing of an Agreement on the normalisation of relations between Croatia and Yugoslavia. He also expressed hope that the Agreement would influence the present situation and future of Croats living in Vojvodina, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro. It had not been long ago when Croats had been told that they were neither a national minority nor a nation. That type of policy failed and the policy of common sense had won which confirmed that Croats living in Yugoslavia were autochtonous and that they had their human rights individually and collectively, Tonkovic said. The Agreement on the normalization of relations between Croatia and Yugoslavia was a historic document, Tonkovic said, adding he hoped the agreement would open possibilities for prosperity of both states. Tonkovic stressed the importance of an item of the agreement according to which the two sides agree to raise the status of Croats living in Yugoslavia and the status of Serbs and Montenegrins living in Croatia from the humanitarian to the political level. Tonkovic expressed hope that the principle of reciprocity would be observed in the solution of the status of Croats living in Yugoslavia in accordance with the standards of international law. (hina) rm 231211 MET aug 96