CROATIA AND HUNGARY SIGN MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT

BUDAPEST, May 17 (Hina) - Croatia and Hungary signed a military cooperation agreement in Budapest on Friday. The agreement was signed by Defence Ministers Gojko Susak of Croatia and Georgy Keleti of Hungary. Croatia and Hungary had more chance of joining European integrations and NATO if they worked together, the two ministers told a press conference after the signing ceremony. Susak said that there was a possibility for Croatia to be admitted to NATO's Partnership for Peace programme as early as this year and that Hungary could help. He supported the creation of defence systems and armed forces in the two countries that would match NATO standards and that would guarantee peace in the region. Susak thanked Hungary for the assistance it had extended to Croatia over the past few years, among other things by receiving refugees from occupied Croatian areas. Keleti said that his country would convey to Croatia its experience from the Partnership for Peace programme of which it was a full member. The Hungarian defence minister expressed a wish for a permanent telephone line with Zagreb, such as those he had with Budapest and Bucarest. Earlier on Friday, the Croatian delegation headed by Susak was received by Hungarian President Arpad Goencz and Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs. The two sides agreed that the signing of the agreement on bilateral military cooperation was a proof of successful development of political and other relations between Croatia and Hungary. Kovacs said that the next important task was to step up the development of economic relations between the two countries. He said that Hungary was very interested in peace in the region and reaffirmed the wish of his country to participate in the postwar reconstruction of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Goencz expressed satisfaction with his visit to Zagreb on Thursday, stressing that today's meeting in Budapest was a successful sequel to this week's talks between Hungarian and Croatian senior officials. Susak said that the signing of the agreement created all conditions for a partnership similar to that between Croatia and the United States. Susak said that the US supported Croatia's Partnership for Peace membership bid, adding that one of the basic requirements for that were agreements on military cooperation with neighbouring countries which were its members. Such agreements would soon be signed with some countries in the region which were not Croatian neighbours but with which Croatia had good relations, such as Slovakia, Susak said. During a day-long visit, the Croatian delegation visited the Croatian Embassy in Budapest. (hina) vm jn 171841 MET may 96