COOPERATION BETWEEN CROATIA AND ITALY DEVELOPING SUCCESSFULLY

SUCCESSFULLY $ ZAGREB, Jan 16 (Hina) - Croatian and Italian prime ministers Zlatko Matesa and Romano Prodi on Thursday described political relations between the two countries as exceptionally good, and stressed great importance of the development of economic cooperation. #L# After the talks, the two premiers stressed that most of the meeting had focused on the development of economic links between the two countries in the fields of energy supply, fishing industry, road construction and banking. Matesa recalled that exactly five years ago, the first president to arrive for a visit to the independent and sovereign Croatia had been Italian President Francesco Cosiga. "Our economic relations are entering a new stage. The established level of trade is to be envied, but we are still noticing a move from trade to higher forms of cooperation," Matesa said. He expressed hope that Italian companies would play a significant role in the construction of highways and other infrastructure in Croatia. Matesa said that they had agreed to continue with projects of the so-called Informal Adriatic Initiative which relates to cooperation in the fields of energy supply, road infrastructure and cooperation of small and middle-scale companies and banks. He also pointed out the importance of relations between the two countries in the field of protection of national minorities, on which Croatia and Italy had signed an agreement. Never have our relations been so good as in the recent period, Prodi said. He stressed Italy's interest for Croatia's accession into international integrations as soon as possible. Italy followed Croatia's advancement to the European Union and NATO with great interest, Prodi said. Stressing that Italy was Croatia's first trade partner, Prodi expressed special interest for cooperation in the Adriatic, from fishing industry and energy supply industry to ecology and the exploration of the sea. (hina) lm mm 161900 MET jan 97