Eighth meeting of the Croatia-Hungary Joint Committee for Cooperation was held 18 December in Zagreb, co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Joško Klisović and Hungarian Foreign Ministry's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Zsolt Nemeth, and attended by representatives of the two countries’ competent institutions.
The goal of the Committee is to strengthen the Croatian-Hungarian institutional and interdepartmental cooperation, contributing to the promotion of joint projects on bilateral, regional and European level.
Today's meeting confirmed the meaningful and dynamic cooperation in many sectors and encouraged the implementation of new projects in the energy sector, transport infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, SMEs, environmental protection, consular affairs, education, culture, spatial planning etc.
Klisović and Nemeth agreed that Croatia’s EU membership opened up new possibilities for intensifying cooperation both in regard to European policies and institutions and in regard to the Visegrad Group (in the V4+ format) and the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. The two officials expressed support for the EU enlargement policy, NATO’s open door policy and Euro-Atlantic integration of the countries in the region.
The meeting also revolved around the status of two countries' respective minorities, with Klisović and Nemeth stating that both Croatia and Hungary were very pleased with achievements in that field.
The two officials applauded the founding of Hungarian Cultural Centre in Zagreb, which is scheduled to open soon and will function within the Hungarian Embassy as a cultural office.
After the meeting, a memorandum was signed on cooperation in the health sector and medicine between the Croatian Ministry of Health and the Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources.
Ahead of the meeting, Klisović and Nemeth held political consultations.