DAVOS: MESIC MEETS WITH ISRAEL'S REGIONAL COOPERATION MINISTER

DAVOS, Jan 27 (Hina) - Croatia's President Stipe Mesic and Israel's Minister for Regional Cooperation Shimon Perez agreed in Davos, Switzerland on Saturday there were no longer any obstacles to a more successful development of Croatian-Israeli relations. According to sources accompanying the Croatian head of state at the three-day World Economic Forum, the Mesic-Perez meeting had not been previously announced. Mesic told the Israeli minister Croatia was preparing measures to indemnify Jews whose property was seized during the Ustashi regime of the 1941-1945 Independent State of Croatia. The Croatian head of state also spoke of possibilities of strengthening economic ties with Israel, adding it would be one of the topics of his talks in Israel next spring. President Mesic was also interested in the current events in the Middle East. Minister Peres was hopeful a solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflicts would be arrived at through negotiations. The president of the Palestinian autonomy has the situation under control, but the situation controls him to a certain degree as well, Perez said to Mesic's inquiry if he thought Arafat could control the forceful Palestinian protests. (hina) ha