Prime Minister Sanader, who attended the ceremony of the start of works on the gas pipeline trunk from Pula to Karlovac, answered questions of reporters who covered the ceremony in the Istrian town of Barban on Wednesday.
Commenting on Croatia's border dispute with Slovenia, Sanader said that his cabinet proposed to Ljubljana to lodge the case with the International Court of Justice, adding that the Croatian government's position was supported by all parliamentary parties in the country.
It is all the same to us whether we shall refer the case to The Hague or to Hamburg, Sanader said alluding to the seats of the ICJ and the UN sea-court respectively. In any case we should go before an international judicial institution as Croatia and Slovenia have discussed this issue for 15 years and failed to solve it, the premier said.
Sanader added that he expected Slovenia's government to accept this proposal after Slovene President Janez Drnovsek expressed his preference for Croatia's suggestion about going before an international judicial institution.
Sanader said he continued to regard Slovenia as a friendly country whit which Croatia would share a joint future in the united Europe.
Asked by reporters to comment on a request by former Iraqi foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, that Zagreb consider a possibility for granting him asylum, Sanader said that no comment was necessary and that "the Republic of Croatia will in no way meet the request".
The Croatian Foreign Ministry stated on Wednesday that Aziz's lawyers had asked Croatia about possibilities for granting their client asylum but that that it did not expect any official application from the former Iraqi foreign minister in this regard.