Sanader and Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu agreed at a meeting on Friday that the two countries had excellent political relations and all conditions to intensify economic cooperation, which is presently improving.
"Romania strongly and fully supports Croatia's candidacy for NATO," Tariceanu said after meeting Sanader behind closed doors, expressing hope this would happen at the next NATO summit, due to take place in Bucharest in the spring of 2008.
Speaking about the European Union, the Romanian PM said that negotiations on a new European Constitution should not harm Croatia's admission to the bloc.
Tariceanu also expressed conviction that Croatia would assume a leading role in CEFTA, "an agreement useful to all the countries of the region".
Sanader thanked Romania for its support and said that Bucharest had a lot of experience in negotiating that could be useful to Croatia.
He confirmed Croatia expected an invitation to join NATO at the alliance's next summit, adding that regardless of whether or not a new European Constitution would be adopted, Croatia would join the bloc by the end of the decade.
Sanader and Tariceanu also talked about the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP). The Croatian PM said a SEECP summit was due to be held in Zagreb on 11 May, which is expected to be attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Given that elections for the European Parliament are scheduled to take place at the same time, it is still uncertain whether Tariceanu would attend the SEECP Summit in Zagreb.
Sanader also announced a NATO conference in the southern Adriatic town of Dubrovnik, saying this would be the last NATO conference before the 2008 summit in Bucharest.
The two PMs called for a further strengthening of the two countries' economic cooperation, saying that Croatia and Romania would sign a memorandum concerning the European oil pipe lines Constanta-Pancevo-Omisalj-Trst. The memorandum is expected to be signed at a SEECP ministerial conference scheduled for early April.
The two countries' trade is constantly growing. In 2005 their trade rose to 360 billion dollars from 21.4 million dollars in 1998.
Both PMs supported UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan for Kosovo, saying it laid a foundation for a final solution to that issue.
"Croatia is interested in stabilisation of its neighbourhood and in that regard Croatia will be part of common international policy," Sanader said.
The Croatian PM ended his two-day official visit to Romania with talks with the President of the Romanian Senate, Nicolae Vacaroiu.