SECRETARY-GENERAL: Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. As you heard from the President we had very friendly and constructive discussions. And I am personally very happy to be back in Zagreb, a city where I spent six months. And, as the President indicated, it was a very difficult period and for me to come back and to see the changes and how you are rebuilding and moving forward.

Apart from the fact that peace has taken hold here and you are consolidating peace and building a society based on solid foundations, which the President and I had the chance to discuss and of course by these foundations, I'm talking about the strengthening of democratic institutions, the rule of law, the sense that there would be freedom of expression and the population would have a say in the decisions that affect them. And I think on this front, Croatia is really moving in the right direction. And it's on that kind of basis, that one builds a solid democratic state.

I was also able to commend the President for the efforts that he's making with the other leaders in the region to improve relations with your neighbors and ensure that the links that once existed so harmoniously are re-established and that you'll live in a peaceful neighborhood.

I did, however, highlight three issues that we need to deal with in the region if we are going to be able to pursue reconciliation and strengthen good neighborliness and that is the question of justice. If we are able to deal with the question of justice effectively, it will help with cooperation and reconciliation in the region, the question of refugees and the question of internally displaced persons. I think all the leaders of the countries in the region will have to work on this issue together for us to deal with this. And of course the other issue was the question of the missing, which has been raised in almost every stop that I have made in the region and I have met representatives of families of the missing.

Croatia, as you all know, is a full and active member of the United Nations and it is significant that I will come to Zagreb to meet the President and the leaders in the presence of the President of the ECOSOC, the Economic and Social Council, who is the Croatian Ambassador in New York and that is an indication of how active and fully integrated you are in the UN system. You are also participating actively in our peacekeeping operations and other activities. And for a country that received so many peacekeepers here barely ten years ago, it is quite a reversal.

I applaud the efforts and the leadership of the President and his government in preparing Croatia for integration into Europe and I was also encouraged to see that your neighbors share that future, that vision. And I think you are making great strides in that area and this is a very important project. It's important for you and countries in this region and also for the larger Europe.

I wish the President, the Government and the people of Croatia every success on their chosen path and we will do whatever we can to support you.

Thank you.