CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS UN UNDER-SECRETARY MIYET

ZAGREB, June 4 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic, on Wednesday received the UN Under-secretary for peace operations, Bernard Miyet, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The visit of the UN Under-secretary Miyet to Croatia is part of preparations for a discussion on the UNTAES mandate at the UN Security Council. The discussion is scheduled for the end of June. Granic notified Miyet of measures which Croatian Government was taking in order to ensure all conditions for the successful completion of the UNTAES mandate and the process of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube river area. He particularly stressed the firm commitment of Croatia to fulfilling its obligations from the Letter of Intent on the reintegration's completion, forwarded to the UN Security Council, and to implementing fully the Plan For the Return of Displaced Persons and Refugees, signed by UNTAES and UNHCR. Granic also pointed out that the return must be two-way and well organised. The Croatian Minister added that it was very important that local bodies of authorities, established in the Danube river area on the basis of election results, may soon take over the executive authority. Minister Granic pointed out that the visit of Croatian President Tudjman to Beli Manastir was an exceptionally important step in confidence building among the local population, and the continuation of normalising relations between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would surely contribute to this. The Under-secretary Miyet said that President Tudjman's visit and speech as well as the continued normalisation between Croatia and the FR Yugoslavia were accepted well both in the Danube river area and in international circles. He added that this direction should be followed in future. To avoid incidents that might slow down the entire process was very important, Miyet said and pointed to the very successful work of the Transitional Police. All these steps would be of great significance when the UN Security Council should make a decision on UNTAES mandate, he stressed. Granic said the Croatian Government maintained that by the beginning of the work of local bodies of authority it would be no longer necessary for the military component of UNTAES to stay and that only civilian monitoring mission should remain in the Croatian Danube river area, read the statement in the end. (hina) jn mš 041517 MET jun 97