VIENNA: SUCCESSORS TO EX-YUGOSLAVIA SIGN SUCCESSION AGREEMENT

VIENNA, June 29 (Hina) - Representatives of the five successors to the ex-Yugoslavia signed a succession agreement to the former federation at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe headquarters in Vienna on Friday. The agreement was signed by Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Ilija Filipovski, and the foreign ministers of Yugoslavia and Slovenia, Goran Svilanovic and Dimitrij Rupel. Present at the signing were Austria's Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero Waldner, the international community's High Representative in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, and the international mediator for succession to the ex-Yugoslavia, Arthur Watts. Negotiations to the former federation formally took ten years and were at a dead point until last year's fall of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The negotiations intensified in the past six months. An agreement was reached and initialled at the end of two-week negotiations in Vienna on May 25. (hina) ha