Attending the Budapest meeting were foreign ministers Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic of Croatia, Ferenc Somogyi of Hungary, and Dimitrij Rupel of Slovenia, while Italy was represented by the state under-secretary at the Italian Foreign Ministry, Roberto Antonione.
"In the final document of the meeting the foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Group have supported the speedy start of Croatia's EU membership negotiations," for which Minister Grabar Kitarovic thanked them, stressing the importance of the Group in the Euro-Atlantic integration process, the statement said.
The Budapest declaration also stresses the importance of the Task Force in the process of preparations for the final decision of the European Union on the start of Croatia's EU entry talks, as well as the role of the European Union and NATO in ensuring permanent stability, security and progress in South-East Europe, reads the statement.
The meeting stressed priorities in cooperation among the member-countries, including Croatia's participation in a multinational peace-keeping military unit of the Quadrilateral Group, and in humanitarian operations, the inclusion of South-East European countries into the pan-European transport network, cooperation among the northern Adriatic ports of Trieste, Koper and Rijeka, cooperation in the protection of the environment, joint regional development projects, cooperation in small and medium-sized businesses, regional development, tourism, science and technology as well as in employment, health and student exchange projects.
The Croatian minister also held separate meetings with the participants of the meeting, with her Slovene, Hungarian and Austrian counterparts expressing support for the Croatian government's efforts to start EU membership negotiations as soon as possible.
Minister Grabar Kitarovic and her Slovene counterpart Dimitrij Rupel agreed that minor problems at the local level should be dealt with in the spirit of wider and permanent interests of the two countries. They agreed that the dialogue about such issues should continue at the level of state secretaries.
Hungarian Minister Ferenc Somogyi described as positive the application of the Croatian government's action plan, and he and Grabar-Kitarovic stated that bilateral relations were very advanced and welcomed an agreement on the strengthening of economic cooperation within a joint commission.
Roberto Antonione of Italy, which has taken over the presidency of the Quadrilateral Group from Hungary, reiterated Italy's support to Croatia's efforts regarding cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal, and confirmed that the relations between the two countries were good.