Yugoslav Daily Survey, 96-11-28

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

CONTENTS

[01] RELATIONS TO BE RENEWED BETWEEN FRY AND EU

[02] MILUTINOVIC ENDS HIS VISIT TO BELGIUM

[03] NORWAY AND YUGOSLAVIA DISCUSS COOPERATION

[04] YUGOSLAV DELEGATION VISITS MOSCOW

[05] AGREEMENT ON RESCHEDULING YUGOSLAVIA'S DEBT LIKELY TO BE REACHED SOON

[06] YUGOSLAV MINISTER CONFERS WITH OSCE COMMISSIONER

[07] BELGRADE HOLDS INCIDENT-FREE 3RD ROUND OF BALLOTING FOR CITY COUNCIL

[08] SOCIALISTS WIN MAJORITY IN BELGRADE CITY COUNCIL

[09] SOCIALISTS WIN 74 OF 120 SEATS IN VOJVODINA ASSEMBLY

[01] RELATIONS TO BE RENEWED BETWEEN FRY AND EU

In a statement for Yugoslav Television, Tanjug news agency and the daily newspaper 'Politika', the Yugoslav Foreign Minister specified that he had received in that respect very precise details from the EU Commission and European Council representatives, so that a concrete form is expected to be given to everything that was discussed by the two sides in the coming period.

Assessing his meetings held in the past three days with EU representatives as very comprehensive, Milutinovic said that the basic reason for his visit to Belgium was talks with the EU, European Parliament and European Commission officials.

These are the first talks after 1990, at an official, detailed level, about our cooperation and future agreements, Milutinovic said. He added that Yugoslavia would like to see its relations with the EU return to the level from the end of the 80's.

Recalling that the FRY previously had 12 accords with the EU, Milutinovic added that at the time of his visit to Brussels, a EU team of experts was at the same time in Belgrade to prepare a series of documents. He noted that the talks held in Brussels were above all political.

Asked about relations between the FRY and Belgium, the Yugoslav Foreign Minister said the two countries had developed cooperation and many joint interests.

Milutinovic assessed that talks with Belgian officials were comprehensive, detailed, and that the Belgian side had shown great interest for developing cooperation, for the situation in our country, for our opinion about the situation in the region, especially regional development, which is also in the EU interest.

Milutinovic stressed that the FRY was practically the only country from the territory of the former Yugoslavia and in the Balkans which has fully accepted the EU initiative for regional development and that is highly appreciated by EU officials who consider the Yugoslav position a rallying point for other countries in the region with respect to the European initiative for the regional development of South-Eastern Europe.

At the meeting with members of the European Union Commission for defense and foreign policy, there were not only questions posed but also discussions about a number of problems in the region of the Balkans, in Bosnia and Herzegovina and especially about cooperation with the EU.

I think that this has been very useful because everything that the European Commission and the EU Ministerial Council decide, the Parliament approves, Milutinovic said, and called for more frequent meetings between the two sides.

Milutinovic assessed that his speech was an opportunity to present fully Yugoslav positions in the European Parliament where, at the same time, the political opinions of different political parties from EU member countries are expressed.

Milutinovic will travel on Thursday from Brussels to Luxembourg, on a return visit, and he is expected to hold there important talks about bilateral cooperation with the Foreign Minister of Luxembourg, Jacques Poos.

This is after a longer period of time the first visit of a Yugoslav Foreign Minister to Luxembourg, Milutinovic said.

[02] MILUTINOVIC ENDS HIS VISIT TO BELGIUM

The meeting was the final event of the Minister's three-day visit to Brussels, where he visited several European institutions and discussed bilateral cooperation with Belgian officials.

On Monday, Milutinovic had met the Chairman of the European Union Council of Ministers Dick Spring (Ireland) and on Tuesday he met the European Commissioner for South-Eastern European affairs Hans Van Den Broek.

Their talks focused on rapprochement between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the European Union through autonomous measures on trade and economic cooperation.

Milutinovic was also the guest of the European Parliament and explained Yugoslavia's policies to its Foreign Policy Committee and answered questions by European MP's.

Milutinovic also held a meeting late on Tuesday with his Belgian counterpart Eric Derycke to discuss bilateral relations. He discussed the same topic on Wednesday morning also with Belgian Senate and Lower House representatives.

According to general assessments, full agreement was reached on most issues in all meetings, with an emphasis on the support to Yugoslav Government's endeavours for Yugoslavia's reintegration in all international organizations and institutions, above all European economic and financial institutions.

[03] NORWAY AND YUGOSLAVIA DISCUSS COOPERATION

Special attention was devoted to cooperation on stabilising peace in former Yugoslavia, specifically in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as well as to positive trends in the Balkans and in South-Eastern Europe as a whole.

Both sides gave positive marks to progress made in overall bilateral relations since the Norwegian Minister's visit to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in March, and singled out economic cooperation as particularly successful.

Shipyards in Belgrade and Zrenjanin (North Yugoslavia) are in the final stages of building two ships for a Norwegian customer, out of a series of four commissioned vessels, one of which has already been delivered.

The Norwegian firm 'Telenor' is building a mobile telephone system in the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro.

Positive marks were given also to trade, which was worth 11 million U.S. dollars in the past 10 months.

Godal and Jovanovic agreed to step up work on coordinating and adjusting inter-state regulations with a view to simplifying bilateral economic relations.

[04] YUGOSLAV DELEGATION VISITS MOSCOW

Yugoslav Minister of labour, health and welfare Miroslav Ivanisevic and Russian Minister for emergency situations and civil defence Sergei Shoigu agreed on Tuesday about setting up a high-level Joint Committee on these issues.

The Committee, which should oversee the implementation of an Inter-governmental Accord covering these issues, should become operational in January l997.

The two sides agreed about the training of rescue teams in Russia and cooperation in rescue operations, as well as about Yugoslav experts' attendance of relevant scientific conferences in Russia.

Ivanisevic and Shoigu are expected to sign a Protocol on all forms of cooperation discussed.

On Wednesday, Ivanisevic met with Deputy Minister of health Alexander Tsaregorodsev to discuss renewal of cooperation in health protection and the medical industry, on which a Protocol is expected to be signed.

The Yugoslav delegation will meet also with Minister of labour and social services Gennady Melikian to discuss renewal of cooperation and signing of a Protocol.

[05] AGREEMENT ON RESCHEDULING YUGOSLAVIA'S DEBT LIKELY TO BE REACHED SOON

Ognjanovic told 'Radio Yugoslavia' that talks would resume in mid-December and that the rescheduling of the debt would be done under favourable terms but not in a standard manner. He said the London Club had already expressed understanding for the postponement of the payment of the debt and was willing to grant other concessions as well.

Yugoslavia does not ask that its debt be written off but is negotiating the conversion of a part of the debt into shares in profitable sectors like power and fuel supply, transport, tourism and agriculture, he said.

[06] YUGOSLAV MINISTER CONFERS WITH OSCE COMMISSIONER

Savovic informed Van Der Stoel about the Yugoslav Government's stand on the position of the Serb minority in the Croatian region of Slavonija and of ethnic Albanians in Serbia's southern Province of Kosovo and Metohija (Kosmet). The OSCE senior official has especially been engaged on issues in connection with these areas lately.

It was agreed during the talks that it was necessary to implement the Erdut Agreement in full in order to establish confidence and a co-existence of Serbs and Croats in the region of Eastern Slavonija, Baranja and West Srem, a Yugoslav Government statement said.

[07] BELGRADE HOLDS INCIDENT-FREE 3RD ROUND OF BALLOTING FOR CITY COUNCIL

President of the city's Central Electoral Commission Radomir Lazarevic told 'Tanjug' late on Wednesday that the polling had been incident-free. He further said that representatives of all parties whose candidates were contesting the Municipal election in the third round were represented on the Electoral Commissions.

[08] SOCIALISTS WIN MAJORITY IN BELGRADE CITY COUNCIL

SPS Secretary for Belgrade Zarko Obradovic told 'Tanjug' on the night of November 27-28 that the opposition Coalition 'Zajedno' ('Together') did not boycott the third round of balloting, although a boycott had been announced by opposition leaders at protest rallies. He said that the Coalition 'Zajedno' had carried off 9 electoral units and the Radical Party 2.

The final election results will be announced by the City Election Commission.

[09] SOCIALISTS WIN 74 OF 120 SEATS IN VOJVODINA ASSEMBLY

The Commission adopted a report on the results of elections for the Provincial Assembly and verified them. Commission President Zikica Dronjak told a Press Conference that the Coalition 'Zajedno' ('Together') won 16 seats, the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians 13, the Serbian Radical Party 7, and the Coalition Vojvodina 6. He further said that the turn-out in the first round of elections for Provincial Assembly deputies was 66.24% of the 1,585,936 registered voters, and that it was slightly smaller in the second round (46.5%).

A third round of elections was held in 9 election units because of established irregularities during the voting.

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