AMBASSADOR MASTRUKO ADVOCATES FREQUENT CROATIAN-SLOVENE CONTACTS

LJUBLJANA, Jan 12 (Hina) - Croatia and Slovenia must regulate first their bilateral relations so as to come successfully closer to the integration processes such as the European Union, the NATO and others, Croatia's Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia, Ivica Mastruko, said in an interview with the Ljubljana-based daily 'Republika', on Sunday. In his first interview with the Slovenian media after he recently assumed the post of the Croatian Ambassador in Ljubljana, Mastruko said that more frequent bilateral contacts might help to reach joint strategy and tactics in this field. Croatia counted on Slovenia's assistance in cases where Slovenia was ahead in the integration processes, he added. Commenting on the open questions such as the Bay of Piran, the Krsko nuclear power plant, and the Zagreb branch of Ljubljanska Bank, Mastruko said there were no new important elements in solving them, but so far the negotiations were advancing very well so that only a few small steps were necessary to remove the questions from the agenda. "Slovenia has managed to rid itself of Balkan combinations, which means for Croatia that it has become a so-called bordering area. Nonetheless, Croatia is insisting on that it wants to be only a neighboring country of the Balkans, and, in this sense, we are prepared to cooperate," the Croatian Ambassador expounded to the daily, as regards the issue of integration initiatives in southeastern Europe. He voiced a hope that forthcoming meetings between the two ministries of transport would help to clarify mutual misunderstanding about the so-called fifth European transport corridor. (hina) mš 121235 MET jan 97