ZAGREB, January 17th, 2018 – The coordinating committee of Italian and Croatian ministers will hold its third meeting in Rome on Thursday, for the first time in over seven years and for the first time since Croatia joined the European Union, and the meeting reflects the high level of political relations between the two countries and a mutual wish to make further progress in areas of special interest, the Croatian Foreign Ministry has said.
The meeting will be co-chaired by Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović-Burić and her Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano. They agreed on the meeting when he visited Zagreb last October.
The coordinating committee first met in Rome in 2009 and then in Zagreb in 2010. It was established under a memorandum of cooperation signed in 2009 and comprises ministers in charge of foreign affairs, economic and industrial cooperation, energy, the environment, the infrastructure, transport, agriculture, and universities and scientific research.
Pejčinović-Burić’s delegation will include Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli and Environmental Protection and Energy Minister Tomislav Coric.
Cappelli said on Monday that Italian tourists generated 1.14 million arrivals in 2017, up 2.4% on the year. Italians rank sixth in the number of arrivals and nights in Croatia.
Italy is Croatia’s number one export market and the second biggest import market, while Croatia ranks 44th in Italy’s imports and 36th in exports.
Energy, food, timber and auto industries, construction, IT and shipbuilding are the sectors offering the biggest bilateral cooperation possibilities.
In Rome, the two countries are expected to sign a joint declaration aimed at advancing relations, boosting political cooperation bilaterally, within the European Union as well as other regional and multilateral organisations, and extending mutual support, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said.
