CRO DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

ZAGREB, Mar 12 (Hina) - Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader and Austrian Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schuessel on Friday discussed Croatian-Austrian relations, the situation in Bosnia, and Kosovo. According to a statement from the Croatian Foreign Ministry, the two ministers emphasised the Croatian and Austrian governments' good and successful cooperation in advancing overall relations, and assessed it was necessary to further intensify the cooperation. Discussing party cooperation between Croatia's ruling Croatian Democratic Union and the Austrian People's Party (OVP), Sanader and Schuessel assessed the decade-long cooperation was good. They also agreed on a concrete exchange of party delegations' visits. Sanader also held talks with OVP Secretary-General Marie Rauch- Kalat, and Ambassador Ludwig Steiner, the OVP Political Academy's honorary president. Earlier today, Sanader visited the Burgenland-Croatian cultural centre in Vienna, where he was acquainted with the centre's activities, projects, and present role. Centre representatives pointed to the centre's openness towards cultural cooperation with Croatia. Sanader welcomed the centre's activity, and thanked the Austrian government on the care for the Croatian minority in Austria. He also emphasised the Croatian government would continue caring for the Croatian minority in Austria. (hina) ha