Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi met the Croatian Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Mrs. Vesna Pusic, at the Farnesina today, 16 July. Minister Pusic had attended the international conference on “Women in Diplomacy – Building a Network for a Better World”
The meeting confirmed the growing dynamism of bilateral relations between Italy and Croatia. These have seen a series of meetings at the highest institutional level, culminating in President Napolitano’s visit to Zagreb and Pula in July and September 2011.
Minister Terzi and Minister Pusic were in full agreement on the positive trend in Italian-Croatian relations, which are inspired by full respect for European values. They stressed the importance of grasping the opportunity to give further impetus to economic and cultural relations between civil society in the two countries.
Bilateral economic relations are also in excellent health. In 2011, Italy was Croatia’s leading commercial partner, with trade amounting to 3.7 billion euros. Experts were up 8% on the previous year, while Italy’s presence in the banking sector amounted to 50% of the Croatian market.
During today’s meeting, Minister Terzi told his Croatian colleague that on 19 July 2012 Italy will be presenting the “Italian Strategy for the Balkans” in Brussels. This is a strategic project to place goals and actions on a systematic footing in a region viewed as a priority for our country’s internationalisation.
“Italy”, said Minister Terzi, “was the first founding state to ratify Croatia’s European Union Accession Treaty. […] We feel that the path undertaken, and successfully completed, by Zagreb must serve as an example for the other Balkan countries from the perspective of the stabilisation and development of the region. […] We have worked hard to achieve this and I am delighted to note that our already close bilateral relations are still characterised by very wide margins for growth”.
“From the point of view of regional cooperation too”, concluded Minister Terzi, “we have an excellent understanding with Zagreb, as witnessed by Croatia’s growing commitment to drawing up a ‘European Union Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Macro-Region’, promoted by Italy since 2010 along with Slovenia and Greece. […] We view this project as fundamental in helping bring the Balkans into line with European standards by encouraging a better use of national and Community funds in strategic sectors such as the environment, transport, maritime security, tourism and energy”.
