Yugoslav Daily Survey, 96-11-11

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>

CONTENTS

[01] MILOSEVIC RECEIVES KLEIN

[02] CEI INVITES YUGOSLAVIA TO RESUME ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

[03] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL SAYS SANCTIONS SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED CAUTIOUSLY

[04] YUGOSLAVIA HOPES TO FRAME DRAFT ACCORD WITH LONDON CLUB SOON

[05] KRAJISNIK, BILDT COORDINATE VIEWS ON COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

[06] GEN. PERO COLIC APPOINTED R.S. ARMY CHIEF

[07] NEW SERB ARMY CHIEF RECEIVES WORLD ENVOY GEN. DE LAPRESLE

[08] EASTERN SLAVONIJA PREMIER ON TALKS WITH CROATIAN PRESIDENT

[09] IMPROVEMENT OF POSITION OF SERBS IN CROATIA

[01] MILOSEVIC RECEIVES KLEIN

Talks focused on issues promoting conditions for normal life and the development of the region, in which U.N. peacekeepers, headed by Klein, play an important role. Continued U.N. presence, in keeping with last year's Erdut agreement, undoubtedly strengthened stability in the region. U.N. presence encourages cooperation and discussions on all issues of vital importance for the local population, it was said during the talks.

Consistent and full implementation of the agreement concluded between Croatia and local Serbs is a solid basis for successful stabilization of the situation in the region, it was set out at the meeting.

After the talks with Milosevic, Klein told reporters that the U.N. administration had done a great deal to stabilize the situation in the region, which contributed to normalization of relations between Yugoslavia and Croatia.

Klein said that the key to the region's stability was economic development, as unemployment was higher than 60 percent.

[02] CEI INVITES YUGOSLAVIA TO RESUME ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

The two-day conference was attended by 13 heads of government and 16 foreign ministers of CEI states.

The CEI troika (comprising the heads of Government of Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia) will endeavour to resume ties with Yugoslavia, a co-founder of the body.

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has shown a desire to resume active participation in the work of the CEI, according to a statement released in Graz.

The host of the conference, Austrian Chancellor Franz Vranitzky made clear the group would not expand beyond 17 members and the 17th place would be reserved for the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Vranitzky confirmed that talks on F.R.Y.'s continued participation in CEI activities were underway and that great interest was voiced for the F.R.Y.'s return to the organization.

[03] YUGOSLAV OFFICIAL SAYS SANCTIONS SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED CAUTIOUSLY

Cicanovic said that issues connected with sanctions should be precisely defined, from the time when they are to be introduced until the exact conditions for their lifting. The practice has shown that sanctions are far more easily introduced than lifted, partly because of the different interpretations of some issues, Cicanovic said.

The Yugoslav delegation took active part in the Conference, bearing in mind the experiences and effects of the sanctions which the U.N. Security Council had imposed on Yugoslavia in May 1992 and lifted on October 1, 1996, Cicanovic said.

He said that Yugoslavia's role in and contribution to the peace process in the former Yugoslavia had been specially stressed, despite all negative effects of the comprehensive and mandatory sanctions.

[04] YUGOSLAVIA HOPES TO FRAME DRAFT ACCORD WITH LONDON CLUB SOON

Minister Vuk Ognjenovic told Tanjug that elements of a draft accord with Yugoslavia would most likely be examined at the following session of the Club later this month.

Ognjanovic said his hopes were based on the fact that the Club's members were interested in doing business in Yugoslavia, and Yugoslavia wanted to create possibilities for foreign debt servicing.

'We are prepared to pay back our debts, and seek new cooperation with members of the international banking community through business offers,' said Ognjanovic.

He said Yugoslavia had proposed a debt conversion into shares capital of Yugoslav firms, joint investments, founding of mixed societies and firms, so as to obtain the funds the banks had invested in the firms earlier.

The proposal was received with much interest, said Ognjanovic.

He said the debts that would not be settled through conversion would be included in Yugoslavia's request for debt reorganization.

'We are not asking for debts to be written off, we want a realistic reduction,' as Yugoslavia had been unable to realize currency inflow in order to settle its foreign debt because of the international sanctions, said Ognjanovic.

Therefore, he said, it was necessary that the interest account be reorganized, and the default interest eliminated.

Yugoslavia will ask for a grace period toward foreign creditors, during which time it will revive its economy and production so as to be capable of debt servicing.

Regarding negotiations with the IMF, Ognjanovic said there was no reason for waiting for the regulation of Yugoslavia's status, as Yugoslavia's membership quota had been established (it was divided among the new former Yugoslav states in 1992). According to stock principles, to have a share is to have a vote,' said Ognjanovic and added it was against IMF's rules and statute that one country should have the right to vote on the basis of shares, and another denied the same right.

[05] KRAJISNIK, BILDT COORDINATE VIEWS ON COUNCIL OF MINISTERS

After the meeting, Krajisnik said that a position had been coordinated on this issue, adding he was sure that Bildt would convey the Serb position to the other two Presidency members - Kresimir Zubak and Presidency President Alija Izetbegovic.

Krajisnik said he hoped that Zubak and Izetbegovic would agree with the Serb view and that the Presidency would set up a Council of Ministers at its next session in Sarajevo's National Museum on Tuesday.

[06] GEN. PERO COLIC APPOINTED R.S. ARMY CHIEF

R.S. President Biljana Plavsic signed the decree on the appointment.

The until now top R.S. army body, the headquarters, headed by Gen. Ratko Mladic, was on Sept. 12 declared by the R.S. Assembly the General Staff.

Speaking to Serb Pale television, Plavsic thanked Gen. Mladic and all members of the headquarters for 'all they have done for the Serb people during the four-year war.'

Carl Bildt said on Saturday that personnel changes in the Army of the Republika Srpska should have been made long ago and were in the best interest of the Republika Srpska.

[07] NEW SERB ARMY CHIEF RECEIVES WORLD ENVOY GEN. DE LAPRESLE

Colic and de Lapresle discussed the implementation of the Dayton accords. The Republika Srpska, while committed to peace, would nevertheless work on reorganising its army with a view to creating a modern defence force, Gen. Colic said.

Colic said that it would insist with high-ranking representatives of the international community on an equal treatment for the Republika Srpska and would not tolerate incidents such as the one at Jusici.

[08] EASTERN SLAVONIJA PREMIER ON TALKS WITH CROATIAN PRESIDENT

Speaking to reporters on his return from Zagreb, Stanimirovic said that the talks would soon resume on the level of the regional Executive Council and the Croatian Government.

Stanimirovic said that the Serb delegation had insisted on a precise definition of a model for organising the elections in the region, solving of the issue of military service for the region's inhabitants, return of property to refugees and security of citizens of Serb nationality.

'We especially insisted that after the integration into Croatia the region remains a single territorial unit in which the citizens will realise their vital interest with full observation of security and human rights,' Stanimirovic said.

Stanimirovic said he had received Tudjman's assurances that all Croatian citizens, Croats as well as Serbs, would in the near future be able to return to their homes, and described this as a major step in the right direction.

He said that the Serb delegation had congratulated Tudjman on Croatia's admittance into the Council of Europe and expressed belief that 'this will help to resolve the issue of Serbs in Croatia, which will have to observe the standards of the oldest European political institution.'

In Zagreb, the Serb delegation met with representatives of the local Serb organisations and Charge d'Affaires of the Yugoslav Embassy to Croatia Veljko Knezevic, who had described the position of Eastern Slavonija Serbs in the talks with Croatia as the 'only possible and realistic.'

[09] IMPROVEMENT OF POSITION OF SERBS IN CROATIA

In an interview to Radio Kragujevac, city in central Serbia, Pupovac, who is a professor at Zagreb University, said proof of this were round tables on the position of Serbs in Croatia, the opening of the highway and the visit of the representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church to Zagreb.

'Now the atmosphere is much better, relations between the two national communities are generally more favourable, as is the atmosphere in the Croatian Parliament and the entire political life,' Pupovac said.

Yugoslav Daily Survey Directory - Previous Article - Next Article