CROATIAN, AUSTRIAN DEFENCE MINISTERS MEET

VIENNA, April 22 (Hina) - Croatian and Austrian defence ministers Berislav Roncevic and Guenther Platter respectively positively assessed their talks in Vienna on Thursday, adding that the two ministries would continue to promote cooperation.#L# Roncevic was on an official visit to Austria on Wednesday and Thursday. After the officials talks on Wednesday, the two ministers held a joint news conference on Thursday. Roncevic and his Austrian counterpart said they discussed security and political issues and agreed to improve cooperation in security and defence policy. Austria is happy to have found a reliable and stable partner in Croatia and that the two countries can exchange opinions on the situation in the southeast of Europe, Platter said. He stressed the importance of international cooperation in educating and training military officials in another country, adding that the already existing programme would be intensified. He said Croatia invested great efforts to join the EU and that from the security aspect Austria supported Croatia's bid to become a full EU member as soon as possible. Roncevic said the talks with his Austrian counterpart were very friendly and open, adding that Platter told him there were no open issues between Croatia and Austria. On behalf of the Croatian government, Roncevic thanked Austria for openly supporting Croatia's aspirations to enter Euro-Atlantic associations. Answering to an Austrian reporter who asked whether the Gotovina case would halt Croatia's further integration into European associations, Roncevic said General Ante Gotovina was retired and not within the jurisdiction of the Defence Ministry. He reiterated the Croatian government's position that it guaranteed to fully cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague. The minister informed the news conference of the European Commission's positive avis on Croatia's EU membership application. (Hina) it