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SZEGED, Hungary, Oct 8 (AFP) - The United States and the European Union should seek to give more concrete help for democracy building in Yugoslavia, EU Special Coordinator for the Balkans Bodo Hombach told a conference for Yugoslav opposition local government leaders here Friday.
Hombach made clear that he was not specifically thinking of financial aid but of seeking out new forms of cooperation.
"I would like to call on more US and European cities to search for further possibilities of cooperation. Financial support is an issue that we should discuss within the Stability Pact," he said, opening the second day of a two-day conference on the implementation of a Balkans Stability Pact signed by 40 heads of governments at a Balkans summit in Sarajevo on July 30.
The event in this southern Hungarian city, just 16 kilometres (nine miles) north of Hungary's border with Yugoslavia, is bringing together local Yugoslav leaders and representatives of the Yugoslav independent media with representatives of Balkans Stability Pact signatory states, Hombach and Hungarian officials.
It aims to motivate local governments in stabilising Yugoslavia, shattered by successive ethnic wars and a NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in the spring to protect the rights of minorities in the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo, Hombach said.
"We are here to motivate people to act and coordinate their activities. That is our job," said Hombach.
"Mayors are always the ones who are closest to the people. They (the mayors) know their problems. We came here to listen to these mayors and to organise and convey to them practical help," said Hombach.
Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi of host Hungary also urged the Yugoslav mayors to "clearly and without shame spell out their problems and difficulties and tell us how we can help."
One very concrete form of help would be to lift an international oil embargo from the smaller Yugoslav member state Montenegro before the winter, Hombach said, adding that a concrete decision on that might be expected at a Luxembourg meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
"We must think of the winter that is approaching, and must care for the elementary supplies of these people," he said, adding that the EU would provide humanitarian aid worth 40,000 euros (41,640 dollars) for the peoples of Serbia.
But he called for further efforts from the international commmunity.
"Now we have a vision. One part of it is to have a coherent plan, and the other is to find the practical means to implement it," he said.
"We have all the tools to coordinate the values," he added.