Busek was speaking at a news conference after a meeting of foreign ministers from the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP), held under the slogan "Building Europe Together".
After the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe is dissolved by the end of the year and a Council for Regional Cooperation is established, the consolidated SEECP will become the main framework for that cooperation which the EU gives strong political support with the aim of strengthening stability, cooperation and Euro-Atlantic prospects of this part of Europe, Croatian Foreign Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic told reporters.
She informed the press that today's conference unanimously decided that the seat of the Council for Regional Cooperation would be in Sarajevo and that Hidajet Biscevic, state secretary at the Croatian Foreign Ministry, would be appointed its secretary-general. The two decisions are expected to be endorsed at a summit of the heads of state and government of the SEECP countries, to be held in Zagreb on Friday.
The SEECP is not a substitute for the EU. It is not an instrument to leave the region on its own, Busek repeated several times.
Grabar Kitarovic said that during the Croatian presidency of the SEECP, foundations of a new architecture of regional cooperation in Europe were laid and that the consolidated SEECP would become the main political framework for coordinating cooperation in Southeast Europe.
She confirmed that the conference discussed special UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan for Kosovo which envisages internationally supervised independence for the province, and that all countries bar one supported the plan, describing it as balanced.
The minister did not state which country did not support the plan.
Asked if the conference discussed the current political situation in Serbia and to comment on new Serbian Parliament Speaker Tomislav Nikolic's statement that he would not give up on the "Virovitica-Karlovac-Karlobag" borderline and that he "nurtured the Chetnik ideology just as Croatia nurtured the Ustasha ideology", Grabar Kitarovic said that Nikolic's words did not deserve any comment.
"We do not nurture the Ustasha ideology and I hope that the majority of Serbian citizens respect Croatia's territorial integrity and sovereignty," Grabar Kitarovic said.
The Zagreb conference discussed the situation in Serbia, but no conclusions were adopted, the minister said.
"We support democratic processes and want to encourage Serbia to continue with reforms and with meeting criteria on the road to the EU and NATO," Grabar Kitarovic said.
The SEECP ministers supported Montenegro's wish to become the 11th member of this regional initiative, describing it as a useful newcomer to regional stability and cooperation.
Bulgarian Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ivailo Georgiev Kalfin, whose country would take over from Croatia the chairmanship of the SEECP, said that his country would work towards developing overall regional cooperation until the remaining countries joined the EU and NATO.
Greek representative Ioannis Valinakis, whose country had presided over the SEECP before Croatia, said that the ultimate strategic goal for all was "the European Union".