CROATIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER CONCLUDES TWO-DAY VISIT TO UKRAINE

KIEV, Sept 10 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic concluded a two-day official visit to Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon after talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavle Lazarenko on political and economic issues. "It is important to us that Ukraine has supported our proposal for resolving the problem of the UNTAES mandate," Granic told a news conference in Kiev. He said that Croatia supported an extension of the UN mandate in its eastern Serb-held area until April 15 and that it was willing to allow another three months for the withdrawal of the UN force, which includes Ukrainian troops. Lazarenko paid special attention to economic issues. "Today we have discussed an agreement on establishing a free trade zone and I think that this will substantially improve the development of economic relations between our countries," he said. During the visit, Granic had met the Ukrainian defence minister, the parliament speaker, and President Leonid Kuchma. A group of Croatian business people, headed by Assistant Foreign Minister Spomenka Cek, met representatives of Ukraine's Foreign Trade Ministry and Chamber of Commerce to discuss possibilities of improving economic ties. Croatian Deputy Tourism Minister Vinka Cetinski met her Ukrainian counterpart for talks on strengthening cooperation in the tourist industry. Assessing the results of the visit before his departure, Granic said that there were possibilities of cooperation in the shipbuilding, chemical and oil industries. He also emphasized similarities between Croatia and Ukraine in their efforts to enter European economic and political organizations such as EU and CEFTA. "As far as security issues are concerned, there are certain differences. We want to be a member of the Partnership for Peace and NATO, while at this moment Ukraine doesn't want to join any (military) system. It doesn't want another East-West division on its territory," Granic said. Granic said that Ukrainian officials had shown a great interest in the agreement on the normalization of relations between Croatia and Yugoslavia because Ukraine could use it as a model for resolving its problems with the Russian Federation. (hina) vm 102017 MET sep 96