CROATIA, YUGOSLAVIA MAKE PROGRESS IN RELATIONS -FOREIGN MINISTERS

BELGRADE, Feb 19 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic and his Yugoslav counterpart Milan Milutinovic said in Belgrade on Wednesday that progress had been made on a number of issues important for future relations between the two countries. After two and a half hours of talks between the delegations of Croatia and Yugoslavia, Granic announced that several meetings would be held at the level of ministers and experts in the next few weeks to work out ways of resolving those issues. "We discussed the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region and concluded that the process was proceeding well," Granic said, adding that the Croatian Constitution and the Croatian government's recent letter of intent guaranteed the Serbs in the region all ethnic and human rights and a decent life. "Therefore we believe in the successful completion of the peaceful reintegration." The two delegations also discussed legal issues, restoration of traffic links, property relations and an agreement on succession to the former Yugoslavia. The legal issues included the regulation of citizenship, visa requirements, border traffic, determination of border crossings, cooperation between the interior ministries and the signing of an agreement on mutual legal aid and a consular convention. Granic said that further talks on these issues were scheduled to take place in Zagreb in two weeks. The interior ministers of the two countries should meet in the next four to six weeks, while experts would resume talks on property in Belgrade on February 28. Also under discussion was rail, road and air traffic and the signing of relevant agreements, as well as efforts to reach a succession agreement as soon as possible, according to Granic. As a very important issue on today's agenda was the problem of missing persons and refugees. Granic said that the issue would be discussed in Zagreb in about ten days. Granic announced talks on a bilateral agreement guaranteeing the rights of the Serbs in Croatia and the Croats in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which comprises Serbia and Montenegro. "We made progress in almost all issues and talks will continue," Granic said, adding that the negotiations on all the issues should be concluded within the next two or three months after which Milutinovic was likely to visit Zagreb. Granic expected a large number of agreements to be signed on that occasion. Milutinovic said that today's comprehensive talks were aimed at accelerating the process of normalizing Croatian-Yugoslav relations, which he described as a key to stability in the region. Milutinovic said that they had discussed 18 different agreements and that they would try to conclude the talks on most of them in the next few weeks. He said that he believed that the overall Croatian-Yugoslav relations were improving. Later on Granic was received by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. (hina) vm jn 191807 MET feb 97