Croatian President Visits Slovenia

Croatian President Stipe Mesic arrived in Slovenia on Sunday, 19 March at the invitation of his Slovenian counterpart Milan Kucan. The official part of the visit took place on Monday, 20 March. Mesic also met with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek and Speaker of Parliament Janez Podobnik.

Mesic was accompanied by Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, who met with his Slovenian counterpart Dimitrij Rupel and Minister for European Integration Ivan Jakovcic.

The central themes of Mesic's visit were discussions on bilateral relations and an opportunity for strengthening of economic relations as well as the resolution of open issues. Slovenian and Croatian representatives discussed EU and NATO expansion, and exchanged viewpoints on strengthening of relations in the framework of the EU, as well as the Stability Pact and other international initiatives for SE Europe.

The talks with high officials from Croatia have shown that the time for action on Slovenian-Croatian relations has come, Slovenian President Milan Kucan said official talks with his Croatian counterpart Stipe Mesic. Kucan added that both sides, as neighbouring countries sharing similar foreign policy aspirations to join Euro-Atlantic institutions, confirmed the interest in solving all outstanding issues.

Kucan also maintained that the agreement reached by the Slovenian and Croatian foreign ministers to prepare a time scheme to solve open issues was an important achievement.

Croatian President Mesic stressed that both sides were of the opinion that outstanding issues are soluble, but a greater deal of will should be showed on both sides.

Each problem first calls for the identification of interests that each side holds, on the basis of which a settlement in the interest of both countries can be formulated, said Mesic. The Slovenian and Croatian presidents said that all open issues, including the border in the Piran Bay, a problem where access to international waters is in the interest of Slovenia and the preservation of the border with Italy in Croatia's interest, should be resolved in this spirit.

Once the sides have agreed on principles and their interests, the resolution of all issues would be reduced to its technical execution, they said. With this both Presidents stressed that the countries have decided to solve these issues on their own, without international arbitration, even though they asked assistance with the Ljubljanska banka issue and the sea border from the International Monetary Fund and former U.S. defence minister William Perry respectively. President Kucan also expressed satisfaction with Mesic's visit and labelled it as an opportunity for the renewal and strengthening of political dialogue between the countries, as the period of non-cooperation worked against both countries.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, who met earlier in the day with his Croatian counterpart Tonino Picula, said that Croatia is planning to establish a national commission for borders, which would meet with the Slovenian-Croatian diplomatic commission for borders. Picula added that the new regime in Croatia is determined to strengthen good relations with its neighbours, which is in a way, a European test for Zagreb.

Slovenian Prime Minister Drnovsek labelled the talks with the Croatian President as concrete and amicable. During the talks a "good basis for the solution of problems and the framework for the continuation of strengthened dialogue was established". Drnovsek expressed to the journalists that during talks, the sides explained expectations and opportunities for the resolution of open problems. Among other things, Drnovsek expressed Slovenia's expectation that it will have access to the open sea. Concerning Ljubljanska banka's debt to its former Croatian savers and the Krsko Nuclear Plant on which talks are already underway, Drnovsek expects the quest for the resolution of the problems to move forward, and added that the two countries will continue discussions on these issues on governmental levels.

Prime Minister Drnovsek also announced the upcoming meeting with his Croatian counterpart Ivica Racan. Drnovsek added that during talks with Mesic, he expressed Slovenia's readiness to offer assistance to Croatia in its EU integration bid.

Croatia is an important economic partner of Slovenia. This is proven by the US$ 1.01 billion exchange between the countries, of which US$ 671 million are Slovenian exports to Croatia while US$ 343 million are Slovenian imports. Exports fell by 17 percent over 1998 but Croatia is still in third place of the most important Slovenian export markets.

Slovenia has expressed readiness to support Croatia in the UN, Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Stability Pact for SE Europe as well as the former Yugoslavia succession issues. Slovenia also supported Croatia in its bid to become a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Source: Slovene Press Agency STA