STATEMENTS BY KOSTOVIC, KLEIN AFTER TALKS WITH TUDJMAN

ZAGREB, Nov 23 (Hina) - We can stress with pleasure that great progress has been made in stepping up the process of peaceful reintegration of the Danube river region of eastern Croatia, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic said in Zagreb on Saturday after talks between President Franjo Tudjman and the UN Transitional Administrator of the region, Jacques Klein. Kostovic, who also attended the meeting, announced that Croatian civil servants would be enabled to work in 45 offices in the UN-administered region issuing Croatian documents to local Serbs. He said that a pilot program for return of Croatian displaced people to the Baranja area would begin within 30 days and that the Vinkovci-Sid section of the Zagreb-Belgrade railway would be opened on December 10. Kostovic said that they had coordinated views on accelerating preparations for holding elections in the region. General Klein said that President Tudjman was "as usual very much on top of (all) issues." He expressed a wish for elections in the region to take place as soon as possible, adding that it would be useful if they were held simultaneously with local elections in other parts of Croatia. Klein said that they also discussed the southern part of the region where the reconstruction process was in full swing and where refugees would hopefully return very soon. The talks also focused on opening additional Croatian offices in order to step up the issuing of Croatian documents, because local citizens would not be able to vote without them, he said. Klein said that the purpose of his visit was to update the President on everything that had been done so far and on what remained to be done in the future. Klein announced that a donors' conference for the reconstruction of the region would be held within the next month, adding that a date had not yet been set. Klein said that his office was preparing a 100-page protocol on projects of joint interest, such as protection against floods and mine clearance. "I needed to get the President's blessing that we're on the right track here," Klein stressed, adding that the President wanted the peaceful reintegration process accelerated and bureaucratic obstacles to it removed. Klein warned that local Serbs were concerned about their future, but that they understood that the region was an integral part of Croatia. Asked who would be allowed to vote in local elections in the region, Klein said that there were no problems with this issue, adding that the view of the international community was that all citizens of Croatia were entitled to vote. (hina) vm jn 231743 MET nov 96