GENEVA, 6 Dec (Hina) - A meeting on the U.S. "Initiative for Cooperation in South-Eastern Europe" ended Friday in Geneva with the signing of a 'Declaration on Purpose'. The declaration was not signed by Croatia and Slovenia.
GENEVA, 6 Dec (Hina) - A meeting on the U.S. "Initiative for
Cooperation in South-Eastern Europe" ended Friday in Geneva with
the signing of a 'Declaration on Purpose'. The declaration was not
signed by Croatia and Slovenia. #L#
A member of the Croatian delegation, Darko Bekic, told the
Croatian news agency Hina that his delegation had decided to return
to Zagreb for additional consultations before the signing of the
declaration, which was mentioned in Annex 1 of the 'Declaration on
Purpose'.
The Slovene delegation said that it could not sign the
document before the new Slovene government is formed. Annex 1 also
stresses that Croatia and Slovenia will be able to inform the
Initiative's president about their accession.
'Declaration on Purpose' is a document which, in principle, is
acceptable for Croatia, Bekic said.
Croatia had managed to make it clear in the document's
preamble that the proposed model of regional cooperation was not a
goal per se, but an instrument with the help of which members of
the initiative would be able to integrate speedier into European
integration processes.
The Croatian stance was supported by European Union
representatives.
According to Bekic, the Croatia delegation welcomed the U.S.
initiative, but it could not sign the document today, since it was
today that it was able to get acquainted with the details of the
initiative for the first time. It was also the first opportunity
for the Croatian delegation to present its stance, Bekic said,
explaining the reasons for additional consultations before the
accession to the 'Initiative for Cooperation in South-Eastern
Europe'.
The United States, which designed the initiative, invited 11
states to the meeting - Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldavia, Romania, Albania
and Turkey.
The meeting was attended by the U.S. special presidential
representative, Ambassador Richard Schiffer and other interested
parties, such as Russia, the European Union and the U.N. Economic
Council for Europe.
The United States had also invited Yugoslav representatives to
Geneva, but due to the latest developments in Yugoslavia, the
invitation was withdrawn.
Participants in the meeting adopted a stance which authorizes
Ambassador Schiffer to renew the invitation to Yugoslavia, after
consultations with members of the initiative are over and after
reasons for the withdrawal of the invitation are removed.
The Croatian delegation at the meeting was led by Spomenka
Cek, aide to Croatia's Foreign Minister on economic bilateral and
multilateral issues.
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