Pupovac told the press afterwards the talks had focused on lists of war crimes suspects, missing persons, former tenancy rights holders, and reconstruction.
He said the president had launched for the first time direct talks with representatives of refugees because in the past such meetings had been held within the Sarajevo Declaration.
Today's meeting enabled representatives of refugees to address not only international institutions and the public in Serbia but also directly Croatia's institutions, said Pupovac.
Asked about the number of those sentenced in absence for war crimes, he said the latest figure covered about 1,900 persons ranging from those being investigated to those sentenced in absence. He added that President Mesic and his office, in accordance with an agreement between the Croatian State Prosecution and the Prosecution in Belgrade, were seeing to it that those against whom existed strong evidence that they had committed crimes and were responsible for them be punished.
"Those against whom there is no such evidence and who are on group indictments which are the result of some sort of campaign should not be on such lists."
Pupovac said the president had said there was no going back to public ownership, but that rights stemming from that must not be disputed.
Serb refugee representative Milojko Budimir said there had been no major progress in Serb refugee returns to Croatia so far "because there was no direct contact between their authentic representatives and Croatian authorities". He added that President Mesic had pledged that the issues discussed today would be on the agenda of Croatia's executive bodies.
Budimir said Serb refugees were particularly interested in the restitution of tenancy rights and that Mesic had agreed that the provision of housing could not be a substitute for seized tenancy rights.
Answering a question from the press, he said about 20,000 such cases had been registered but that there were probably many more.
Asked about the number of missing Croatian Serbs, Budimir said about 2,500 had been killed or gone missing in the war, including 1,960 in Operation Storm. He added the delegation had requested stepping up the exhumation and identification of victims.