RACAN MEETS PRESIDENT OF ITALIAN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ZAGREB, July 11 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan on Tuesday met the President of the Italian Parliament's House of Representatives, Luciano Violante, who is on a two-day official visit to Croatia at the head of a parliamentary delegation. Stressing that relations between Italy and Croatia are very good and friendly, the two officials agreed that the situation in south- east Europe required a closer political cooperation between the two states on all levels, the Government's Media and Public Relations Office said. The purpose of the visit of the high Italian parliamentary delegation is the promotion of inter-parliamentary cooperation, Violante said. Racan and Violante also exchanged opinions on the political situation in south-east Europe, bilateral relations and activities within the Stability Pact for South-East Europe. Italy believes that Croatia has a very important role in the region, Violante said. The two officials voiced concern about the situation in Yugoslavia, which was described as a threat to stability in the region. The Italian delegation was interested in the upcoming constitutional changes and Racan informed them about the main guidelines of a draft on constitutional changes which has been forwarded to the Croatian National Parliament. (hina) rml