CROATIAN PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES U.S. PRESIDENT ON RE-ELECTION

ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman on Wednesday congratulated US President Bill Clinton on his re- election. Your re-election will certainly provide a further strong encouragement to the continuation and promotion of the development of relations between the United States and Croatia. The partnership between our two countries is a pledge in ensuring a long-lasting peace and establishing a new international order in this part of Europe, Tudjman said in a letter. Our understanding and cooperation were crucial in the achievement of the Washington and Dayton agreements which created grounds for ending the tragic crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the direct role of the United States and Croatia in establishing the Bosnian Croat-Moslem Federation and its reliance on the democratic Croatia. Our cooperation has been and is of crucial importance also for the process of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube river area into Croatia's constitutional and administrative system. I am confident that, by pursuing our policy of friendship and partnership during your second presidential mandate, we will be able to contribute to the accomplishment of our common goals in the consolidation of peace and democracy in the present-day world, the letter said. (hina) vm jn 061605 MET nov 96