The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Antonio Tajani, will be on a mission to Zagreb tomorrow for the sixth meeting of the Italy-Croatia Ministers’ Coordination Committee. The Italian delegation will also include the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Hon. Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, the Minister of University and Research, Sen. Anna Maria Bernini, and the Undersecretaries of State, Hon. Molteni (Interior), Hon. Ferrante (Infrastructure and Transport), Sen. La Pietra (Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry) and Sen. Borgonzoni (Culture).
The Deputy Prime Minister, who in Zagreb will also meet the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, said: “With this mission to Croatia by a large government delegation we want to give new impetus to cooperation between Italy and Croatia, through an operational work programme based on concrete objectives. We will discuss how to systemise joint initiatives in the fields of culture, research, the economy and internal affairs.”While pointing out that this is the third visit to Croatia in less than a year, he added that “Italian-Croatian cooperation is excellent and a further boost to cooperation with Croatia, particularly in strategic sectors, will come from the next Business Forum that we plan to organise in Croatia within the year”.
The works in Zagreb will open with bilateral meetings that the Ministers and Undersecretaries will have with their Croatian counterparts. This will be followed by a plenary session, co-chaired by Minister Tajani and his Croatian counterpart Grlić-Radman, during which political cooperation issues and the European and international agenda will be discussed. At the end of this session, a joint declaration is expected to be signed, containing specific topics on which both sides intend to work for the future.
The Ministers’ Committee is the institutional framework of bilateral cooperation between Italy and Croatia, established by a special Memorandum of 2009. Italy and Croatia are linked by a sound relationship of friendship, also kindled by their respective minorities, which has grown and deepened significantly over the last few years. Cooperation in the field of security and migration is particularly fruitful, as demonstrated by the operational exchange of views between police forces and the desire to find common solutions in the fight against illegal flows and the prevention of cross-border crime, including with specific joint initiatives.
