STEP FORWARD IN CROAT-SLOVENE TALKS, SAYS PREMIER VALENTIC

BRDO KOD KRANJA, July 8 (Hina) - Two delegations of the Croatian and Slovene governments, led by premiers Nikica Valentic and Dr. Janez Drnovsek, met today in the Slovene town of Brdo kod Kranja. After seven-hour meetings of the committees on certain open issues behind the closed doors Croatian Premier Valentic assessed the talks to be an important step forward, whereas Slovene Premier Drnovsek marked them to be the decisive advance in the regulation of the relations between the ywo countries. Premier Valentic said that a significant advance had been made in the crucial problem of borders in the Bay of Piran. The variants of the solutions reached so far will be considered by the expert teams until 22 July when delegations of the two governments are scheduled to meet again. The two countries' ministers of finance will keep in touch by the time in order to solve the issue of the Ljubljana bank's debt to the Croatian savers in its branch bank in Zagreb. In connection with the question of the ownership of the Krsko Nuclear Plant Croatian Premier expressed hopes that it should not be difficult to find a solution to the issue. This nuclear plant was built together by Croatia and Slovenia while being the two republics of former Yugoslavia, on the territory of Slovenia. Both Valentic and Drnovsek pointed out the importance of the reached agreement that Croatia and Slovenia, as successors of the internationally valid Osimo Accords and the Rome Agreement, should pay jointly (or place on deposit) the rest of the compensation for the property of optants from Istria after the Second World War. The total amount of the compensation was determined in 1983 when the agreement on it was signed in Rome by the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ) and Italy. 082007 MET jul 94