Yugoslavia must resume full diplomatic relations with Israel, contends the Yugoslav ambassador to the United Nations here, Marko Kosin.
“Yugoslavia recognizes the fact that Israel should have a right for her sovereignty,” said Kosin in the first official interview given by a high official from his country to an Israeli journalist.
“Israel is a main factor in the Middle East and there can be no solution to the problem without Israeli consent and participation. Therefore, we have to improve our relations with Israel.”
He said Yugoslav public opinion and most members of Parliament favor re-establishing relations with Israel. Only the government is not unanimous on the subject. “We had prior to 1967 full diplomatic relations and therefore will reestablish them as before,” he said. The relations were broken following the Six-Day War.
Reports on Israel in the Yugoslav press are favorable, in contrast to the past, and the Yugoslav press agency, Tanjug, placed a correspondent in Israel last summer, he said.
Kosin said a new foreign minister will be appointed at the beginning of 1988, most likely Budimir Loncar, who will be less likely to protect Arab interests than the current minister, Rais Dizdarevic, who is Moslem.
The envoy did not hide the fact that his country would prefer contact with leaders of Israel’s leftist Mapam Party.
He also pointed out that Yugoslavia had good economic relations with Israel — about $35 million in combined trade a year, a sum very important to Yugoslavia — and that Yugoslavia is ready to increase the economic ties.
His country also is interested in tourism from Israel; the national Yugoslav airline, Jat, opened a line to Israel earlier this month.
Kosin noted that many Israelis of Yugoslav origin kept in touch with their former homeland. And he was optimistic about further cultural exchanges.
He said Dizdarevic, the foreign minister, met with his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, last September in New York during the U.N. General Assembly. Kosin said the Yugoslav explained to Peres why it was not yet time to re-establish diplomatic relations.
Kosin added that the Yugoslav government had very good contacts with the World Jewish Congress.
In related developments, this correspondent was invited to a Yugoslav national celebration in November and Kosin has accepted an invitation to dinner by the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
