Yugoslav Daily Survey, 98-05-21

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

Yugoslav Daily Survey

CONTENTS

[01] YUGOSLAVIA * CHINA * ECONOMIC COOPERATION

[02] WESTERN AMBASSADORS WORRIED BY SERBS' CONTINUED EMIGRATION

[03] BOSNIA'S TWO ENTITIES SIGN MEMORANDUM ON LEGAL COOPERATION

[04] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PARLIAMENT SESSION

[05] ETHNIC ALBANIAN KILLED IN A VILLAGE NEAR DJAKOVICA

[06] JOURNALISTS FROM SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES VISIT PRISTINA

[07] ARMED ETHNIC ALBANIANS KIDNAP POLICEMAN

[08] YUGOSLAVIA * HUNGARY * BILATERAL COOPERATION

[09] YUGOSLAVIA * HUNGARY * PROTOCOL ON CONTINUING ECONOMIC CONTACTS

[10] BULATOVIC: GOVERNMENT OF CONCORD, TOLERANCE, COMPROMISE

[11] YUGOSLAVIA * BIH * AIR TRAFFIC

[12] SLOVAKIA PAYS RECOGNITION TO YUGOSLAVIA FOR RESOLVING NATIONAL

[13] YUGOSLAVIA'S NEWLY-APPOINTED GOVERNMENT HOLDS ITS FIRST SESSION

[01] YUGOSLAVIA * CHINA * ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

China's Shandong Province wants to promote cooperation with Yugoslav companies, it was stated in talks on Wednesday between Yugoslav Ambassador in Peking Slobodan Unkovic and top officials in the Province's capital of Jinan.

Unkovic, who visited in Peking an exposition of economic potential of Jinan that has a population of five million, and Jinan's Mayor described as great prospects for diversifying cooperation between Yugoslav companies and partners in Shandong.

They also discussed cooperation to date, agreeing that cooperation between the Livnica company of Kikinda and the Hemofarm company of Vrsac on one side, and partners in the province on the other, had been successful.

It was agreed that a delegation of leading Shandong businessmen visit Yugoslavia by the end of the year.

Situated in the east of China, Shandong has a population of 88 million and is one of China's most industrialised areas.

[02] WESTERN AMBASSADORS WORRIED BY SERBS' CONTINUED EMIGRATION

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

An international commission in charge of following the implementation of the Serb-Croatian Erdut accord visited Vukovar on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the region.

The Commission, made up of western states' Ambassadors accredited to Zagreb, met separately with officials of local self-rule, the District Government and the National Confidence Building Committee, and with local Serb leaders.Assessing the situation since the Commission's last visit on Feb. 16, U.S. Ambassador William Montgomery told a news conference here late in the afternoon that the commission was still worried by the overall situation which was characterised by continued emigrations.

He stated special concern over constant reports of harassment, threats and unlawful evictions of Serb refugees by returners, and over mild sentences being passed for even the worst repeated offenses of ethnic intimidation. He said that one of the chief reasons for heightened tension and numerous incidents was poor progress being made in honouring obligations assumed by the Croatian Government three months ago.

He went on to mention some of the obligations not honoured by the Zagreb regime. Among these were questions concerning the return of 2,500 Serb refugee families wishing to go back to west Croatia, and an absence of an efficacious, comprehensive, non-discriminatory and speedy settlement for returning or indemnifying property to all seeking it. In the matter of the amnesty law, he invited the Zagreb regime to reaffirm publicly its undertaking that there would be no fresh persecutions of Serbs for war crimes without the consent of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

[03] BOSNIA'S TWO ENTITIES SIGN MEMORANDUM ON LEGAL COOPERATION

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

Republika Srpska Justice Minister Petko Cancar and his Moslem-Croat Federation counterpart Mato Tadic signed in Banja Luka on Wednesday a memorandum on legal cooperation, exchange of cases and legal assistance.

Deputy of the High Representative for Bosnia Michael Steiner, who also attended the signing ceremony, said the memorandum had been signed after a year and a half of talks conducted through the inter-entity board of judges set up within Bosnia's Presidency. Steiner said the memorandum was to enter force in late May.

He said the memorandum should make it easier for both entities' citizens to exercise rights and should make possible a more efficient functioning of the two entities' legal institutions.

[04] REPUBLIKA SRPSKA PARLIAMENT SESSION

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

The Republika Srpska Parliament decided on Wednesday to join the E.U. initiative for stability and good neighbourliness in the southeast of Europe, which will lead to the development of democratic and political trends in this entity.

Parliament also decided that the Republika Srpska ask the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a loan of 13,549,000 German marks for the reconstruction of the R.S. telecommunications system.

The deputies debated most the organisation and control of the coming elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina and regulations adopted by the Provisional Election Commission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

[05] ETHNIC ALBANIAN KILLED IN A VILLAGE NEAR DJAKOVICA

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

Ethnic Albanian Nedzad Pnisi was killed in the village of Damjan in the Kosovo-Metohija's Djakovica municipality at around 8.30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the Pristina-based Media Centre learnt from Djakovica municipal sources.

A group of armed ethnic Albanians wearing uniforms of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) burst into a local store and opened fire at residents of the village, mostly populated by Roman Catholic ethnic Albanians, who sat there chatting.

According to witnesses, the group opened automatic gunfire at the people in the shop. No one else was hurt, while minor material damage was done to the store.

Local sources said that the attack was aimed at intimidating the local residents as part of a KLA effort to force Roman Catholic ethnic Albanians to take up arms and join them.

Media Centre also learnt that the Garic family home in the village of Dobric in the Djakovica municipality came under a mortar and automatic gunfire attack at around 11 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

The Garics are one of the two remaining Serb families in the village. The family fired back and the attackers retreated after a half an hour of fighting. There were no casualties in the attack, while minor damage was done to the house.

Another armed group of ethnic Albanians abducted Serb Ivan Zaric along with two Gypsies of the village of Dolac in the Klina municipality. The abduction was reported to local authorities.

[06] JOURNALISTS FROM SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES VISIT PRISTINA

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

Participants in the first meeting o young journalists from southeastern Europe, on a several-day visit to Kosovo and Metohija, talked Wednesday in Pristina with Kosovo District Head Veljko Odalovic and Pristina Mayor Dusan Simic.

Odalovic and Simic informed the journalists about the current political- security situation in Kosovo and Metohija, the Kosovo and Metohija Information Secretariat said.

Odalovic said that the state of Serbia was functioning on all of its territory, that it will defend in every occasion its integrity, and pointed out that it was high time that ethnic Albanian political leaders abandon the idea of an independent Kosovo and condemn terrorism.

The Mayor of Pristina talked about the city's history and importance of the historical heritage located in that part of Serbia.

Guests visited during the day the Pristina Media Centre.

[07] ARMED ETHNIC ALBANIANS KIDNAP POLICEMAN

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

A group of armed ethnic Albanians intercepted a bus on the Pec-Kosovska Mitrovica road at about 3 p.m. local time on Tuesday and abducted policeman Dejan Stamenkovic of the village of Popovo, near Kosovska Kamenica, who was a passenger on the bus, the Pristina Media Centre learned from the Srbica municipal authorities.

The terrorists asked all passengers for identification documents, but took only Stamenkovic, who was not on duty and in mufti.

At about 8 p.m. on Tuesday, unidentified attackers fired from automatic rifles at a "Djakovica prevoz" company bus near the village of Prilip, near Decani, the Media Centre said.

The driver did not stop, speeding on to Decani. The few passengers on the bus were not harmed, but the vehicle was riddled with bullets.

[08] YUGOSLAVIA * HUNGARY * BILATERAL COOPERATION

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

Yugoslav and Hungarian agriculture ministers said on Wednesday that urgent and efficacious measures were needed to increase bilateral trade to at least the 300 million dollars a year of before the anti-Yugoslav sanctions.

Yugoslav Agriculture Minister Nedeljko Sipovac and his Hungarian opposite number Fridyes Nady were meeting at the Novi Sad Fair in the Yugoslav republic of Serbia's province of Vojvodina.

Sipovac and Nady agreed that a concrete step in this direction was an accord about drafting an ownership transformation project, signed by companies from the two countries earlier in the day in Vojvodina's chief city of Novi Sad.

The accord was signed by executives of the Yugoslav Becej industrial farm and the Hungarian KPMG of Budapest, specialised in this area.

Sipovac and Nady agreed that if bilateral trade was to increase, it was necessary to have better roads between the two countries, to which end Hungary would meet its obligations concerning the building of a highway to the Horgos border crossing.

The highway from Horgos to Belgrade should be built by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Both sides stated an interest in putting the existing border crossings to better use and opening new ones, and in using the potential of the River Danube to better advantage.

On the Hungarian side, the meeting was attended by Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Janos Toth and Secretary of State at the Agriculture Ministry Gyula Osadi.

On the Yugoslav side, it was attended by Assistant Agriculture Minister Milan Milanovic, Director of the Institute for Animal and Plant Genetic Resources Jan Kisgeci and Ambassador in Budapest Balsa Spadijer.

[09] YUGOSLAVIA * HUNGARY * PROTOCOL ON CONTINUING ECONOMIC CONTACTS

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

The Yugoslav-Hungarian joint commission on economic and technical cooperation ended its second session here on Wednesday with the signing of a protocol on continuing economic contacts.

The delegations were headed by the commission co-chairmen - Assistant Yugoslav Secretary for Foreign Trade Filip Turcinovic, and Assistant Secretary of State at the Hungarian Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism Laszlo Berenyi.

The commission discussed two main subjects - the economic situations in Yugoslavia and Hungary, and prospects for promoting bilateral economic ties, which were noted with mutual satisfaction to be again in the ascendant.

Parallel with the commission session, the two countries' experts met at the Hungarian finance ministry to discuss investment protection and avoidance of double taxation.

During his two-day visit to Hungary, Turcinovic visited the Budapest International Fair, where an exposition of industrial achievement is in progress.

At the Fair, he met with Hungarian Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Szabolcs Fazakas, and the two sides noted that, despite some difficulties, bilateral cooperation was being increased and diversified.

Turcinovic toured also the Dunafer Iron Mills in Dunaujvaros, with which Yugoslavia's Gosa of Smederevska Palanka maintains very good business cooperation.

The commission's third session is scheduled to be held in Belgrade in 1999.

[10] BULATOVIC: GOVERNMENT OF CONCORD, TOLERANCE, COMPROMISE

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

The newly elected Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic said on Wednesday that his government would be a government of concord, tolerance and compromise and would focus on resolving foreign-and domestic-policy problems.

After being elected new head of Federal Government, Bulatovic told a news conference at the Federal Parliament that his government was to chart out the ways for Yugoslavia to resolve the existing foreign-and domestic-policy problems.

Asked whether he would "freeze" his post of President of the Socialist People's Party (SBP) of Montenegro, Prime Minister Bulatovic said he would not and would actively participate in his party's election campaign for the May 31 early parliamentary elections in Montenegro.

The Prime Minister said that one of the Yugoslav Government's priorities would be to place security under federal jurisdiction, which would ensure its serving the interests of Yugoslavia.

He stressed that political results depended on respecting the expressed will of the people in the republics and that their will must be respected also on the federal level.

The way to strengthen and promote the Yugoslav Federation is through raising the level of cooperation with political entities in Serbia, Bulatovic said. He also said he was happy that the Serbian Renewal Movement Party and the Serbian Radical Party shared many views in common.

The new Government's future activities must ensure the continuity of the successful aspects of the former Federal Government's policy, especially as regards economic results and stabilization of the exchange rate, Bulatovic said.

On the other hand, the new Federal Government must organize its activities in a somewhat different manner, and the ministers will be asked to organize their activities by themselves, to consult professional, political and science experts, to resolve problems encountered by their ministries and to assume their responsibilities to that effect, Bulatovic said.

The new Federal Government will give priority to a program for fighting grey economy, Bulatovic said.

Bulatovic expressed hope that the Montenegrin media, which today suddenly and illegally ignore any positive information on Serbia and Yugoslavia, would become more open.

Bulatovic said and added that the Federal Government, in line with its constitutional prerogatives, would shortly make sure that information on its activities and on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia would be made available throughout its territory.

[11] YUGOSLAVIA * BIH * AIR TRAFFIC

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

The Yugoslav Airlines (JAT) will on Sunday resume regular air traffic between Belgrade and Sarajevo, the JAT Information-Propaganda Centre said Wednesday.

JAT will fly to the Bosnia-Herzegovina capital every Sunday afternoon, while the Bosnian airlines Air Bosna will fly from Sarajevo to Belgrade on Thursday mornings.

The establishing of regular air traffic between Belgrade and Sarajevo is the result of an agreement reached on February 27. between the representatives of JAT and the Bosnia-Herzegovina Commercial Airlines Administration.

[12] SLOVAKIA PAYS RECOGNITION TO YUGOSLAVIA FOR RESOLVING NATIONAL

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

The Slovak Government pays full recognition to the way in which the national issue has been resolved in Yugoslavia, i.e., Serbia, Slovak Minister of Culture Ivan Hudec told Serbian Minister without portfolio Ivan Sedlak on Wednesday.

Minister Hudec singled out as an example the Slovak national minority in Serbia, and said his country would be happy if all Slovaks in diaspora had a status similar to that of the Slovak minority in Yugoslavia.

Minister Sedlak, who is in charge of human and national rights, is in Bratislava for a conference on inter-ethnic relations in central European countries, at which he submitted a report on Wednesday about the position of national minorities in Yugoslavia, specifically Serbia's northern Province of Vojvodina.

[13] YUGOSLAVIA'S NEWLY-APPOINTED GOVERNMENT HOLDS ITS FIRST SESSION

Tanjug, 1998-05-20

Yugoslavia's newly-appointed Government on Wednesday determined its priorities at its first working session, chaired by Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic.

The Government will focus efforts on developing Yugoslavia as a state ruled by law and based on the respect of principles of social justice as well as a state that regulates internal relations in a democratic manner, said a statement issued by the Yugoslav Information Secretariat.

It will also work on the country's speedy reintegration into the international community under terms guaranteeing its equal treatment, protection of the country's national dignity and the respect of the country's role as a factor of peace and stability in and outside the region, the statement said.

It will make a special effort to boost and direct the development of open market economy with a view to increasing the citizens' living standards and improving their social security.

The Government also adopted platforms for talks with International Coordinating Committee of Commercial Banks on an agreement on extending the expiry date of debts under the latest 1998 financial agreement, and the resumption of talks on restructuring Yugoslavia's debts, the statement said.

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