PRESIDENT MESIC PRESENTS ANTI-TERORIST COALITION PLATFORM

Croatian President Stipe Mesic attended the Villnius Group presidential meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 4. During his visit he presented a platform for the future activity of an anti-terrorist coalition at the American University in Blagoevgrad. President Mesic said smaller countries like Croatia could find a place in it, too. He presented the platform stressing that Croatia’s commitment to the anti-terrorist coalition was clear and unambiguous and that the goal of the struggle against terrorism must not be revenge but prevention of new terrorist acts. The fight must not be waged only against those organizing and executing terrorist acts, but also against those actively assisting terrorists, harboring or helping them, said Mesic. He thinks the anti-terrorism coalition must not breach the provisions of the United Nations Charter and that it should undertake its actions in agreement with relevant UN bodies, the Croatian President said, adding the coalition must not serve as a cover for the discrimination of any one people or faith. In the 18 articles of the platform, President Mesic emphasized the anti-terrorist struggle including the detection, incapacitation and annihilation of potential sources of the creation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as measures against countries actively helping or harboring terrorists. Countries in the anti-terrorist coalition should also have the obligation to cooperate in intelligence and the extradition of terrorists, President Mesic added. At the end of the lecture, the Croatian President wished his platform would step up activities aimed at the defining and profiling of the anti-terrorist coalition. If he succeeds, President Mesic said he would feel he had done something useful as the head of state that had been among the first to call on the creation of an anti-terrorist coalition. Complete speech in Bulgaria

President Mesic condemned the terrorist attacks during his visit to Bratislava, Slovakia on September 25, too. Complete speech in Slovakia

President Mesic attended a day-long regional conference on anti-terrorism in Warsaw with the heads of state and government of Central, East and South-East European countries. The Warsaw conference which was attended by 16 heads of state and government, ended in the adoption of a declaration condemning international terrorism and conveying the resolve of the participants to fight it with all means regulated with UN Security Council resolutions.

President Mesic and Foreign Minister Picula attended the 56^th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City during the week of November 20. Croatian delegation had many bilateral meetings of which the most important one was with the US President George W. Bush whereby the two presidents discussed anti-terrorist activities and how Croatia can contribute. Complete speech at the UN General Assembly in New York

President Bush Thanked President Mesic

US Embassy in Zagreb Statement on Croatia’s Role in the Struggle against Terrorism