Amado, whose country takes over the six-month EU rotating presidency on July 1, was in Croatia for a day-long official visit, during which he had met Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.
During its presidency, Portugal will aim to create conditions to accelerate the process of Croatia's integration with the EU, and will be working intensively in the coming months to open new negotiating chapters and give new impetus to the membership negotiations between Croatia and the EU, Amado told reporters after talks with Grabar-Kitarovic.
Noting that relations between the EU and Europe's Southeast had been at a standstill in recent years, he said that a final decision on Kosovo's status and the future of the region as a whole was near.
That's why I think that the Portuguese presidency will be important for the region, because Southeast Europe features prominently in our plans and we want to put it again in our strategic and political focus, Amado said.
During its presidency, Portugal will consider its responsibility to step up, together with other colleagues from the EU Council of Ministers, the political pressure on European institutions, particularly the European Commission, to find ways of achieving a lasting peace, stability and economic prosperity in the entire region, he added.
Amado said that he and Grabar-Kitarovic also discussed bilateral relations, and that both countries wished to promote them further. He expressed hope he would soon have the opportunity to play host to the Croatian minister in Lisbon and that they would discuss details there.
Grabar-Kitarovic said that Amado's visit was important not just because Portugal was soon taking over the EU presidency but also because both countries wanted to strengthen their bilateral ties.
We would like to sign new agreements and intensify our cooperation in culture and education. We are particularly interested in working together on promoting the Mediterranean, the Croatian minister said.
Croatia particularly appreciates Portugal's plans to pay special attention to Southeast Europe during its EU presidency, she added.
Asked to comment on very positive views which EU officials had been expressing lately regarding Croatia, Grabar-Kitarovic said that Croatia had proved itself in implementing reforms and that it had made visible progress, as could be seen in the European Commission's progress reports.
In addition, Croatia is a very positive example in Europe's Southeast, where it has become a leader and a model that can serve as an encouragement and a catalyst for reform in the neighbouring countries with the aim of achieving lasting stabilisation of the region in general, Grabar-Kitarovic said.
Asked if during the Portuguese EU presidency a solution would be found to the crisis surrounding the European Constitution, Amado said: We have to see whether we will reach a consensus on what a new Constitution should look like, but we will have to wait for the end of June to see that.
According to a press release from the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Grabar-Kitarovic said that Croatia, as a country on the road to full membership of the EU, wished to make its contribution to the work of the Intergovernmental Conference on a Future Treaty of the European Union, which is expected to start during the Portuguese presidency.