GRANIC TO TRAVEL TO ITALY, VATICAN THIS AFTERNOON

ZAGREB, June 26 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic travels to Italy and the Vatican on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, Granic and his Italian counterpart Lamberto Dini are scheduled to sign four bilateral agreements: on the handing over of persons staying in either country without a permit, on social and health care, on tourist cooperation and on the cancellation of a requirement for Croatian and Italian citizens to carry passports when entering the other country. The two ministers are also expected to discuss a friendship and cooperation agreement, which may be signed in the autumn during an announced visit of Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro to Croatia. During Granic's visit to Rome, the undersecretaries of the Italian and Croatian foreign ministries will sign a memorandum on Italy's financial assistance to Croatia on the basis of an Italian law on the financing of projects for the economic development of Central European countries. On Friday morning, Granic will meet Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Granic will present the Rector of the Croatian Papal Institute of St Jerome, Msgr Jure Bogdan, with a personal gift from Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. (hina) vm 261035 MET jun 97