"We want to develop relations as our contribution to the lasting political stabilisation of this part of Europe. Europe is building a new future based on integration and cooperation rather than confrontation. If we want a different future, European integration has no alternative," Sanader said at the opening ceremony, which was also attended by Montenegrin Prime Minister Zeljko Sturanovic.
The Croatian prime minister said he was pleased that Montenegro had decided to follow the path of European integration, stressing that it could count on Croatia's full support and assistance along that road.
Sanader was the first Croatian prime minister to visit Montenegro after it separated from its union with Serbia in 2006.
Sturanovic said that the opening of the Croatian Embassy in Montenegro and the forthcoming opening of a Montenegrin diplomatic mission in Zagreb was "a new chapter" in relations between the two countries.
"To us, the opening of the embassies of the countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia also has an emotional side to it. Slovenia and Macedonia have done it before, Bosnia and Herzegovina has announced that it will open its embassy soon, and I expect Serbia to do the same after (parliamentary elections on) January 21," the Montenegrin prime minister said.
Sturanovic congratulated Croatia on the successes it had achieved in Euro-Atlantic integration processes and thanked it for its readiness to share its experience with Montenegro.