Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Gordan Jandroković met on Thursday, 14 July 2011, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Italian Republic Franco Frattini, who accompanied the Italian President Giorgio Nap

The ministers expressed their satisfaction with meeting again and confirmed the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries

The ministers expressed their satisfaction with meeting again and confirmed the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries. This is especially evident in the work of the Coordination Committee of Ministers which will reconvene in the first half of September. The ministers also expressed hope that bilateral economic cooperation between the two states will improve further, in particular in the field of small and medium-sized businesses.

Minister Jandroković thanked Italy, and minister Frattini himself, for the strong and continuous support to Croatia during the process of accession to European integration, in particular during the recent conclusion of the accession negotiations. He highlighted that by meeting the set criteria, Croatia demonstrated that it has the necessary capacities, and said that it will continue activities in this direction on the path towards membership in the EU.

Minister Frattini congratulated the Croatian government on the successfully concluded negotiations and all reforms implemented during the process.

The situation in South East Europe was also discussed at the meeting, with special emphasis on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The collocutors agreed that the completion of Croatian negotiations represents a strong incentive for the remaining countries in the region, and confirmed their support to the Euro-Atlantic perspective of all countries in the region with a view to achieving full stability and prosperity in this area.

The meeting also touched on the issue of digital signals of Croatian television stations disturbed by transmitters from the Italian Republic. The collocutors said that progress was made but that there are still some problems with transmitting signals in Istria. The Italian side said that it will take urgent measures to resolve the problem as soon as possible.

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