ZAGREB, 22 Sept (Hina) - The Italian government is very satisfied with the ratification of the Agreement on the Protection of Minorities, and it thinks that the Croatian Parliament has provided a framework for the legal protection of
the Italian minority in Croatia, the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Piero Fassino told reporters after his talks with Croatia's Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader in Zagreb on Monday.
ZAGREB, 22 Sept (Hina) - The Italian government is very satisfied
with the ratification of the Agreement on the Protection of
Minorities, and it thinks that the Croatian Parliament has
provided a framework for the legal protection of the Italian
minority in Croatia, the Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Piero
Fassino told reporters after his talks with Croatia's Deputy
Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader in Zagreb on Monday. #L#
On 11 September, the Croatian government adopted an
agreement on the cancellation of passports between Croatia and
Italy, and the Italian government is expected to adopt the
agreement soon, Sanader said.
'My visit to Zagreb stresses the importance Italy attaches
to Croatia. Italy is Croatia's first economic partner and we
want to become its first political partner as well,' Fassino
said.
The Croatian delegation at the talks proposed that the
Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, who has accepted an
invitation to visit Croatia, visit Zagreb at the beginning of
November. During Scalfaro's visit, the two sides would sign an
agreement on friendship and cooperation, Sanader said.
Prompted by recent demonstrations of Italian refugees and
optants who left Istria and Dalmatia after 1945 (the so-called
'esuli'), the two sides also discussed Croatia's proposal that a
joint Italian-Croatian declaration be signed during Scalfaro's
visit. The declaration would close one chapter in history and
help the two countries turn to future bilateral relations,
Sanader said.
Croatia wants the mixed commissions, which are in charge of
the return of a US $35-million debt which Croatia is to return to
Italy in line with the Osimo Accords, to meet as soon as
possible.
Italy and the former Yugoslavia regulated a whole set of
questions, including the question of compensation for the
property of esuli, with the Osimo Accords. Croatia strongly
supported the commitments from the Accords it had taken over from
the former state, Sanader said.
Italy supported Croatia's wish to join Euro-Atlantic
institutions and its efforts in implementing the Dayton
agreement, as well as the full reintegration of the Croatian
Danube river region and respect for UNTAES deadlines, the Italian
diplomat said.
Sanader informed Fassino about the dissatisfaction of the
Croatian government with the latest Security Council presidential
statement on the course of reintegration of the Danube river
region, adding that Croatia held that 'the situation on the
ground is much better than it can be perceived from the
presidential statement.'
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