TIRANA: CRO. PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER MEETS ALBANIAN COUNTERPART

TIRANA, Feb 5 (Hina) - Croatia and Albania share the same views on the situation in Europe's south-east, Croatian parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic said in Tirana on Monday, the first of a two- day visit to Albania. Tomcic held talks with his host, the president of the Albanian parliament, Skender Gjinushi. "We had very detailed talks about the situation in the whole region and our Albanian partners share identical views as... Croatia on all the problems of this region," Tomcic told reporters. He added the stability of Europe's south-east was important for the economic and democratic progress of both Croatia and Albania. Speaking about ways of improving the very good Tirana-Zagreb relations, Tomcic said: "Parliamentary cooperation should be the generator of good relations between two states and two nations." The talks also tackled cooperation within the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, a project Croatia presides until June. "We agreed to initiate giving (the project) a parliamentary dimension," said Tomcic, adding Croatia would organise a meeting of parliamentary presidents from participating countries. Later in the day, Tomcic and a parliamentary delegation he is heading will meet Tirana Mayor Edi Rama. (hina) ha