New Yugoslav President Pay Brief Visit to Geneva

New Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica held talks with his Swiss counterpart Adolf Ogi during a brief visit to Geneva Saturday.

Kostunica, who replaced Slobodan Milosevic as the Yugoslav leader a week ago, spoke of his desire to normalize relations between Yugoslavia and the international community. He stopped off in Geneva briefly on his way back to Belgrade from the European Union summit in Biarritz, France.

At a press conference, Ogi said they had "a very open dialogue".He said that during their talks, the new yugoslav president expressed his confidence that his presidency would lead to a period of stability in the Balkans.

Ogi said Switzerland was prepared to step up its humanitarian and financial assistance to Yugoslavia. But he added that the first step would be to identify Yugoslavia's needs.

Switzerland followed the EU's lead earlier this week by lifting most of its sanctions against Yugoslavia.



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