Deputy Foreign Minister Dassù hosted the first Italy-Croatia-Slovenia trilateral meeting at deputy foreign minister level, an operational follow up to the 12 September trilateral of Heads of Government in Venice. Croatia was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Hrvoje Marušić and Slovenia by Secretary of State for European Affairs Hrvoje Marušić, accompanied by their respective delegations.
The meeting offered an opportunity for an exchange of views on priority European themes, not least in light of the December European Council. The topics discussed included: the Balkans and the EU enlargement process, a common defence strategy, cooperation on controlling migrations flows in the Mediterranean and the development of the EU Adriatic-Ionian macro-region strategy. The trilateral meeting also made it possible to set up the trilateral Work Group on Infrastructure and Energy that was decided at the Venice summit on strengthening competitiveness in the upper Adriatic.