BUCHAREST, April 24 -- The Crans Montana international gathering closed Sunday after four days of intensive diplomacy. Sure to go down as another step to the Palestinians' self-rule in Gaza, the meeting was a morale-booster to both Romanian officials and Bucharest city dwellers.
Romanian president Ion Iliescu, speaking at the closing session, said the international meeting was a great success because it helped Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat get closer to peace arrangements.
'It was a moment of political support needed by both men,' said Iliescu. It was, indeed, one of the most fevered rounds of Israeli-PLO diplomacy, since the September Declaration of Principles agreement signed in Washington, with Peres and Arafat set on meeting next week in Cairo.
Jean Paul Carteron, president of the Crans Montana Forum, called the Bucharest gathering a 'resounding success' also because it hosted a hot debate on Yugoslavia, with Bosnian foreign minister pointing to his panel neighbour, Yugoslavia's deputy prime minister, as Hitler's advocate.
A visibly satisfied chairman of the Romanian Parliament, Adrian Nastase, said 'it would have taken us months on end to arrange such contacts.'
But with a swarming army of 800 journalists drastically thinned after the Peres-Arafat show was over, the international conference on economic development lost a great deal of stamina.
Out of five statesmen initially announced to attend the proceedings, only three showed up -- the presidents of Lithuania, Belorussia and Cyprus -- while two-thirds of the panels focused on eastern economic opportunities.
In an effort to improve Romania's image, organisers spent lei 20 billion ($12 million) to liven up the daunting structure erected by dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, but the world news coverage of the event was short of their expectations.
'We would have liked to see more good news about Romania, besides abandoned childrend and handicapped people,' said Petre Roman, former prime minister.
But the happiest of all were the Bucharest dwellers who, hardly interested in the Crans Montana gathering, were pleasantly surprised to enjoy a four -day clean city, with busy watering-carts and brand-new street signs.
