CROATIAN AND ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET IN ZAGREB

ZAGREB, April 11 (Hina) - Albania's foreign minister, Alfred Serreqi, today arrived in Croatia for a two-day official visit. He met his Croatian counterpart, Mate Granic, for talks on the situation in the region, bilateral relations between Albania and Croatia, and their admission to European integrations. Granic and Serreqi signed a protocol on cooperation between the two ministries. Speaking to reporters after the talks, both ministers agreed that Serbian aggression was the main cause of the crisis in the region, emphasizing that prerequisites for the resolution of this problem were the mutual recognition of all states in the region and respect for the rights of ethnic communities and minorities. The ministers stressed their agreement on all issues they had discussed. Granic said that Croatian-Albanian relations were constantly improving but that nevertheless the two countries should establish better information links regarding economic possibilities. "We hope visa requirements will be annulled by the end of year and in the meantime we will try to facilitate the traffic of people, commodities and services," Granic said. Granic informed Serreqi of a decision the EU Ministerial Council passed on Monday that the EU could begin negotiations with Croatia on a trade and cooperation agreement. Granic said he expected Croatia to be admitted to the PHARE program in the middle of this year as well as to the Council of Europe. Serreqi said that Albanian-Croatian relations could serve as a model for relations between other Balkan states. He said that the question of Kosovo must be included in the overall settlement of the regional crisis. Serraqi expressed support for Croatia's steps in search of a peaceful solution to the crisis, the latest UN resolutions and the Croat-Moslem federation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its confederation with Croatia. Asked to comment on media reports of Albania disregarding sanctions againt Yugoslavia, Serreqi said that Albania respected and would continue to respect the sanctions, adding that he could not deny that small amounts of fuel were being smuggled into Yugoslavia. (hina) vm 111345 MET apr 95