ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - The Croatian and Italian governments will intensify economic cooperation, in particular through CARDS, a European Union programme of assistance to countries undergoing the stabilisation and association process,
Croatia's First Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic said on Monday. Granic today received Italy's Industry and Foreign Trade Minister Enrico Letta, discussing the enhancement of cooperation. "We agreed that early next year, experts from both sides should meet and fine-tune the cooperation," he said. Italy's Letta said the Zagreb talks confirmed the good bilateral relations between the two countries. "The agreements we have reached will be concretised in the coming days and weeks... I can state that Italy has done well in betting on Croatia and that the bet is valid for the future," he said. Letta was today also received by Croatian President
ZAGREB, Dec 11 (Hina) - The Croatian and Italian governments will
intensify economic cooperation, in particular through CARDS, a
European Union programme of assistance to countries undergoing the
stabilisation and association process, Croatia's First Deputy
Prime Minister Goran Granic said on Monday.
Granic today received Italy's Industry and Foreign Trade Minister
Enrico Letta, discussing the enhancement of cooperation. "We
agreed that early next year, experts from both sides should meet and
fine-tune the cooperation," he said.
Italy's Letta said the Zagreb talks confirmed the good bilateral
relations between the two countries.
"The agreements we have reached will be concretised in the coming
days and weeks... I can state that Italy has done well in betting on
Croatia and that the bet is valid for the future," he said.
Letta was today also received by Croatian President Stipe Mesic and
Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic.
Fizulic and Letta discussed bilateral economic cooperation,
Italian companies doing business in Croatia, possibilities of
joint investments, and Croatian and Italian companies' presence on
third markets.
Letta said 2000 was an outstanding year in Croatia-Italy relations
in which Italy became Croatia's premier foreign trade partner.
Bilateral trade in the first nine months reached $1.73 billion,
which is 19.35 percent of Croatia's entire foreign trade. Croatia's
export to Italy rose by a staggering 35 percent, to $745 million,
mostly in shipbuilding, clothing, furniture, and footwear, said
Fizulic.
Asked about the construction of a highway running along the
Adriatic and Ionian seas, Italy's Letta said it represented a
broader strategic interest which would improve communication
routes between Croatia and Italy.
During Letta's stay in Croatia, Italy's Foreign Trade Institute
organised business talks between some 80 representatives of
Italian companies and banks with Croatian colleagues.
(hina) ha