It is great pleasure after my visit to Israel to meet with "great statesman and one of the most experienced people not only in Israeli but also in international politics," Sanader said.
The Israeli official, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, said that in school he had been taught that a country should be judged by the size of its land and natural resources, but that this was wrong as the the real size of a country should be measured by its people, by the level of development and by people's openness to a new age, he said.
Peres praised Croatia for its success a day after the European Parliament adopted a resolution mentioning 2009 as a possible year for Croatia's admission to the European Union.
This is good news for us as we are a small country like you but we are hopeful just as you should be, which is why we are together, Peres said.
Both Croatia and Israel have had a turbulent past, he said, adding that his country would like to achieve peace with the Palestinians.
Now were are focused on economic and not military aspects and our two countries are similar in that, he said.
If you are small it does not necessarily mean that you cannot be great. I think that both your country and ours "have an invitation to become greater than our land and stronger than our past," said Peres, who arrived today for a two-day visit.
On this occasion the Croatian PM called on Israeli investors to come to Croatia, which is implementing reforms to make it easier for businessmen to invest in this country.