Croatian President Hails Selection of Krk Island for LNG Terminal

Text of report in English by Croatian state news agency HINA

ZAGREB, Sept 4 (Hina) – The proposal to build a terminal for liquefied natural gas in Omisalj on the island of Krk seems logical to Croatian President Stjepan Mesic.

The island of Krk has been selected and this seems logical to me, and technical preparations should now be made, President Stjepan Mesic said while answering questions by Croatian reporters after his meeting with Latvian President Valdis Zatlers in Zagreb on Thursday.

Mesic sad that this proposal had been moved at a recent meeting of the country’s top officials, including the head of state, Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic, Prime Minister Ivo Sander and several ministers.

We realised that Croatia must not depend on one direction exclusively, and therefore we made this decision which I consider to be a good one, Mesic said.

He believes that the next topic regarding this matter would be cooperation within the Druzba Adria project on the integration of oil pipelines from Russia to the Croatian Adriatic coast.

This project was topical in the past, but plans to build oil pipelines within this project also provoked much opposition. However, those who have been sceptical now realise that we must have several different options for providing oil supplies in order to meet our needs, the president said.

Asked about MOL’s takeover bid for Croatia’s Ina and its offer of HRK 2,800 per share, which many in Croatia regard to be too low, Mesic said that in such business deals it is important that all parties concerned, including those who sell and those who purchase, can be satisfied.

This time it is one offer and no decision has been made yet, and no one knows how this will be settled, he said.

Originally published by HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1659 4 Sep 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring European. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.