BELGRADE - CROATIAN SERB OFFICIALS MEET SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER

BELGRADE, May 14 (Hina) - Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic on Monday held talks on upcoming local elections in Croatia with representatives of Croatian Serb parties. Djindjic called on Croatian Serbs to vote following talks with the president of the Serb National Council (SNV), Milorad Pupovac, and the president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, Vojislav Stanimirovic. "We think that's good for both the Serb people and the Croatian state," he said. "The Serbian government sympathises with those Serbs who went to a lot of risk over the past ten years by promoting democratic values and insisting on political solutions," Djindjic told reporters. He said "Serbia is interested" in "transparent relations with Croatia, without traces of the past." One of these are refugee returns and the restitution of their property which he said was "important to enter a new stage in our relations." Pupovac called on Croatian Serb refugees in Yugoslavia to return to their pre-war homes in Croatia to "vote and help themselves and the Serbs living there." He said the new Belgrade government provided Croatian Serbs with a stronghold for their affirmation in Croatia. The local elections will provide conditions for full integration into the Croatian society, he said. (hina) ha