Croatian President opens international conference on minority integration in southeastern Europe and the Baltics

ZAGREB, 2 July 2003 - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic on Wednesday opened a one-day international conference on "Minority Integration in Southeast Europe and the Baltic States," organized by the OSCE Mission to Croatia and the Croatian Institute for International Relations. About 200 experts, minority representatives and officials gathered in the Croatian capital to exchange experiences on how minority issues have been addressed in each of the two regions.

"Tolerance in international relations must be accompanied by tolerance within the borders of all states," President Mesic said in his address. "This will be possible only when we build a society based on tolerance, a society in which discrimination is a thing of the past and in which diversity is viewed as enrichment rather than something that makes it inferior."

Referring to the Baltic states, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Ambassador Peter Semneby, said: "It may be fruitful for countries in south-eastern Europe to learn from a distant example in a similar historical and geopolitical situation."

Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said that Croatia was aware of the roles minorities contribute to every society: "They serve as a bridge in the region, they enrich social life in Croatia."

Carl Bildt, former Swedish Prime Minister and the international community's High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1995 to 1997, referred to the importance of the conclusions of the recent EU Thessaloniki summit. "Refugee returns and recognition of minority rights are the index of democratic maturity," he said.

Participants included Stefano Sannino, diplomatic advisor to the President of the European Commission and a former Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro; Elisabeth Rehn, Chairperson for the Stability Pact Working Table on Democratization and Human Rights; Toomas Hendrik Ilves, member of Parliament and former Estonian Foreign Minister; Nils Muiznieks, Latvian Minister for Social Integration; Misha Glenny, a senior BBC journalist and writer; Ivo Banac, History Professor at Yale University and President of the Croatian Liberal Party; Milorad Pupovac, President of the Serbian Peoples' Council; and Zarko Puhovski, President of the Croatian Helsinki Committee.

The conference was organized with the financial support of the Swedish Embassy in Zagreb and the Friedrich Erbert Foundation of Germany.