UN CAN MEET CROATIA'S LEGITIMATE DEMANDS, OWEN SAYS

ZAGREB, March 7 (Hina) - International mediators, Lord David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg, held a press conference today in Zagreb after meeting the Croatian President's chief-of-staff, Hrvoje Sarinic. "There are legitimate areas where President Tudjman and the Croatian Government are wanting changes and this, I believe, can be met by the United Nations and the international community," Owen said. Owen said that talks on the further implementation of the Dec 2 Economic Agreement between the Croatian Government and Knin Serbs would resume. Today's talks focused on the issues where no sufficient progress had been made, including the restoration of water supplies and railway traffic, pensions and displaced people. Owen hoped progress would be made in negotiations which he said had slowed down because of uncertainty surrounding the mandate of the UN Protection Force in Croatia. Owen said UNPROFOR's withdrawal and its mandate were being examined. The subject had also been discussed by Stoltenberg and UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi on Sunday and in their talks yesterday with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Owen believed the question of UNPROFOR would be solved within the next few weeks after which other issues, such as a tripartite meeting in Paris of the presidents of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, would be discussed. Referring to yesterday's meeting in Belgrade, Stoltenberg said that Milosevic would not recognise Croatia and Bosnia just yet. But Milosevic was aware that the recognition of Croatia and Bosnia was a part of the peace process and an important element in the pursuit of a peaceful settlement, Stoltenberg opined. Many political issues should be discussed before the states that emerged from former Yugoslavia recognised one another, Owen said, adding that significant progress had been made on security issues and economic cooperation. (hina) mm vm as 071500 MET mar 95