CRO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION MINISTER AT VISEGRAD GROUP MEETING

ZAGREB, March 21 (Hina) - The Croatian Environmental Protection and Zoning Minister, Bozo Kovacevic, on Wednesday and Thursday attended a meeting of the Visegrad Group, held in the Hungarian towns of Visegrad and Esztergom, the Croatian Environmental Protection Ministry said on Friday.#L# The main topic of the meeting was the drawing up of the map of a regional ecological network, NATURA 200, the Ministry said. The Visegrad Group includes four central European countries (Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) which have been cooperating on different programmes for years, including environmental protection programmes. Last year the group reached agreement to cooperate in the drawing up of a map of NATURA 2000 and invited Croatia and Ukraine to join in the project, which is why the Visegrad Group is now called the extended Visegrad Group 4+2. In a final declaration, the Visegrad Group ministers expressed gratitude to Croatia for its contribution and support to environmental protection programmes. Minister Kovacevic expressed satisfaction with the so far cooperation between Croatia and the Visegrad Group and said he hoped Croatia would soon become a full member of this association. At the margins of the meeting, the Croatian minister held talks with his Hungarian counterpart Bela Turi-Kovacs. (hina) it