VIENNA, April 22 (Hina) - Croatian and Austrian defence ministers Berislav Roncevic and Guenther Platter respectively positively assessed their talks in Vienna on Thursday, adding that the two ministries would continue to promote
cooperation.
VIENNA, April 22 (Hina) - Croatian and Austrian defence ministers
Berislav Roncevic and Guenther Platter respectively positively
assessed their talks in Vienna on Thursday, adding that the two
ministries would continue to promote cooperation.#L#
Roncevic was on an official visit to Austria on Wednesday and
Thursday. After the officials talks on Wednesday, the two ministers
held a joint news conference on Thursday.
Roncevic and his Austrian counterpart said they discussed security and
political issues and agreed to improve cooperation in security and
defence policy.
Austria is happy to have found a reliable and stable partner in
Croatia and that the two countries can exchange opinions on the
situation in the southeast of Europe, Platter said. He stressed the
importance of international cooperation in educating and training
military officials in another country, adding that the already
existing programme would be intensified.
He said Croatia invested great efforts to join the EU and that from
the security aspect Austria supported Croatia's bid to become a full
EU member as soon as possible.
Roncevic said the talks with his Austrian counterpart were very
friendly and open, adding that Platter told him there were no open
issues between Croatia and Austria. On behalf of the Croatian
government, Roncevic thanked Austria for openly supporting Croatia's
aspirations to enter Euro-Atlantic associations.
Answering to an Austrian reporter who asked whether the Gotovina case
would halt Croatia's further integration into European associations,
Roncevic said General Ante Gotovina was retired and not within the
jurisdiction of the Defence Ministry. He reiterated the Croatian
government's position that it guaranteed to fully cooperate with the
UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague.
The minister informed the news conference of the European Commission's
positive avis on Croatia's EU membership application.
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