BELGRADE, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Latvia has been supporting Croatia’s path to the European Union and NATO from the very beginning and has been ready to offer a helping hand, Latvian President Valdis Zatlers said in the Croatian capital Zagreb on Thursday.

    "We welcome Croatia’s success in the membership talks and we offer our assistance whenever Croatia wants it," Zatlers told reporters after talking to his Croatian counterpart Stjepan Mesic,the Croatian official news agency HINA reported.

    Zatlers, who is on a visit to Croatia until Saturday, said that the Treaty of Lisbon must not be an obstacle to Croatia’s admission and that Croatia must become a full EU member as soon as it meets the required criteria and close the negotiations.

    The Lisbon Treaty was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum in June. The entry into force of the treaty requires the ratification of all 27 member states of the EU.

    The Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said in June that Croatia could be admitted to the EU on the basis of the Treaty of Nice that entered into force in February 2003 instead of the ill-fated Treaty of Lisbon.

    Commenting on Croatia’s admission into NATO, Zatlers said Latvia and Croatia developed good military cooperation, stressing that there would be no hesitations in the Latvian parliament when it comes to the ratification of the document on Croatia’s joining the alliance.

    Croatia, which received an invitation to join the NATO at the alliance’s Bucharest summit in early April, has said it hoped to become a full member by the next NATO summit in April 2009 and that membership of the alliance will boost the country’s chances of joining the European Union soon.

    On July 9, NATO member states signed accession protocols for Croatia and Albania in a key step toward formal membership of the two countries in the alliance. The 26 NATO member states must ratify the protocols according to their national requirements and procedures.

    Croatian President Mesic expressed satisfaction with the fact that Zatlers had arrived in Croatia for the first official visit and thanked him for the support Latvia had been showing Croatia in the processes of joining the EU and NATO.

    PRAGUE, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — Slovak and Portuguese presidents, Ivan Gasparovic and Anibal Cavaco Silva, discussed possible cooperation of the two countries in renewable resources in Bratislava, Slovakia, the Czech news agency CTK reported on Thursday.

    Silva, who is on a two-day visit to Slovakia, is accompanied by representatives of Portuguese companies specializing in using the energy from wind and moving water, CTK said.

    Gasparovic said that Slovakia’s dependency on energy imports deepened after the closure of the first and second units of the nuclear power station in Jaslovske Bohunice, west Slovakia.

    Slovakia has been seeking how to gain this energy in future, CTK quoted Gasparovic as saying.

    Portugal has built a number of wind power mills. Slovakia has several water power stations, but the conditions for wind power stations were not good in the country, according to the Slovak Economy Ministry.

    On Friday, Silva will meet Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. His visit will end with a concert of world known singer Mariza, who sings the typical Portuguese music of fado. 　

    LOS ANGELES, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) — California’s water officials have decided to use a water bank system across the state to fight another dry spell, which could hit the state as early as next year.

    The state’s Department of Water Resources said Thursday that it has created the 2009 Drought Water Bank, which will allow them to buy excess water from farmers and agencies in one part of the state and then sell it to cities and growers in areas facing water shortages.

    Under the program, water buyers would have to cut their usage by 20 percent.

    "We are facing the potential for another dry year in 2009," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a statement. "Which is why my administration is actively planning for an ongoing drought and working to alleviate the effects of the state’s dry conditions."

    Water officials say there are already plenty of potential buyers interested in the program, but they still need more sellers.