ITALY SUPPORTS CROATIA'S ADMISSION TO EUROPEAN ASSOCIATIONS - DINI

( Editorial: --> 6454 ) ROME, July 8 (Hina) - Croatia has made huge progress and Italy will soon strongly support its efforts to join Euro-Atlantic integration processes, Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini said following talks with his Croatian counterpart Mate Granic in Rome on Wednesday. The two ministers exchanged ratification instruments for an Agreement on the Protection of Minorities, both the Croatian in Italy and the Italian in Croatia. Dini described this as a huge step forward for future Croatian- Italian relations. He added that these agreements, which had been prepared for a long time, would create a possibility for the improvement of the status of minorities. Granic and Dini also discussed the forthcoming return visit by the Croatian President Franjo Tudjman to the Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. The two officials also signed several other agreements, the most important being the one on air traffic. Dini commended Croatia's programme for the return of refugees. Other European countries will also support Croatia's efforts to near the European Union and special association programmes will be drafted, Dini said. The Italian minister also showed interest in the development of relations between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as in Zagreb's views concerning the Kosovo crisis. (hina) jn rml /mbr 081725 MET jul 98