BEZANEC, July 23 (Hina) - Croatia's resigned Foreign Minister Tonino Picula and his Slovenian counterpart, Dimitrij Rupel, on Tuesday held talks in the Bezanec castle, north-western Croatia, on the establishment of strategic
partnership between the two countries.
BEZANEC, July 23 (Hina) - Croatia's resigned Foreign Minister
Tonino Picula and his Slovenian counterpart, Dimitrij Rupel, on
Tuesday held talks in the Bezanec castle, north-western Croatia, on
the establishment of strategic partnership between the two
countries. #L#
After the talks, Minister Picula said at a news conference that he
had proposed to Rupel that until their following meeting, set for
September, two documents should be prepared for signing. One refers
to a protocol on the cooperation between the two foreign
ministries, while the other can be called an agreement on
partnership and cooperation.
Minister Picula, who described the bilateral relations as good with
a possibility of their enhancement, handed over a non-paper to
Rupel on the strengthening of the cooperation between Croatia and
Slovenia through the institutionalised political dialogue.
The agreement on partnership and cooperation should precisely
define "bilateral and broader cooperation between Croatia and
Slovenia on their paths toward European integration processes,"
Picula said.
Slovenian minister said the partnership should be open for other
countries in the region, but at the moment, in his opinion, there is
no country in south-eastern Europe which could join Slovenia and
Croatia.
Picula added that "there is great congruence between our major
goals in foreign policy, primarily regarding our bids to enter the
European Union and NATO."
"We should not let open problems, which exist, cast a shadow on the
good history of our relations and even better prospects of the ties
between Croatia and Slovenia," the Croatian minister said.
(hina) ms