ITALIAN ARMY CHIEF-OF-STAFF VISITS CROATIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY

ZAGREB, April 29 (Hina) - The Chief-Of-Staff of the Italian Armed Forces, General Roland Mosco Moschini, visited the Croatian Defence Ministry on Tuesday and held talks with Minister Zeljka Antunovic and Croatian Army Chief-Of-Staff Josip Lucic on bilateral and multilateral cooperation in areas of defence. Briefly addressing reporters, Lieutenant General Lucic said the meeting was successful and "useful in the exchange of information". "Our joint goal is to increase the level of security in this part of Europe but also to accelerate further development of the Croatian Armed Forces by learning from the positive experience of our good friends, with whom we do not share the Adriatic Sea but it connects us as a bridge of cooperation," Lucic said. The Italian general described his visit as "another sign of determination of the Italian Armed Forces to further advance already optimal bilateral cooperation with the Croatian army". He said that today's talks were "extremely interesting", adding that they focused on the analysis of the current international situation and the important role that Italy and Croatia had in the Adriatic and the Balkans. During the talks it was agreed that new meetings on the technical level be held at which possible future areas of the two countries' cooperation would be discussed. (hina) it sb