Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Press Release
Zagreb, October 4, 2001
The meeting was also meant as a preparation for the next day's meeting of Heads of States of this Group in Sofia.The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, Tonino Picula attended the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Vilnius Group (V-10) at Bled on October 04.
At the meeting, the attending Foreign Ministers emphasized the common goals of stability and security, particularly through enhancing the security in Southeastern Europe. The recent terrorist attack in the U.S.A. was one of the main topics of the meeting, and the Ministers emphasized the joint determination of V-10 States to participate in the struggle against international terrorism as members of the international antiterrorist coalition. They adopted a joint declaration that was forwarded to the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and the Secretary General of the NATO, Lord George Robertson.
Prior to this meeting, there were brief talks in Ljubljana between the Foreign Ministers of Croatia and Slovenia, Tonino Picula and Dr. Dimitrij Rupel, respectively. Besides the issues relating to the meeting of the V-10 Foreign Ministers, they touched upon some of the bilateral issues. Minister Picula thanked his host for the Slovenian letter of support to the Croatian efforts to join CEFTA. The Ministers emphasized that both states had the same or similar multilateral interests, and they agreed on future closer cooperation, stating that the partnership between both states is in their mutual interest. The Ministers also agreed on a meeting that was to be scheduled soon in order to discuss the major issues in the bilateral relations between the two states.
Miona Ševčik