The meeting with Blair today marked the start of Sanader's first official visit to Great Britain. He gave his assessment to the Croatian press covering his visit after talks with business people in the City of London.
"My meeting with Blair is an important event not only for our bilateral relations but also for Croatia's road to the EU and NATO because it is known how big the British prime minister's role in the international community is," said Sanader.
He pointed to the fact that Blair publicly said there would be no obstacles or political blockades on Croatia's road to membership after Zagreb met all the criteria.
"Those are very encouraging words from the prime minister of one of the leading countries in the EU and the international community."
Sanader reiterated that Croatia had to do the homework and introduce all the laws and European standards, voicing confidence that Croatia would be in the EU and NATO soon after that.
He said Blair also informed him of the latest G8 sumit which, apart from the Middle East, also addressed Southeast Europe. The two officials also discussed the European Constitution. A way will be found for Croatia, which is negotiating EU membership, to work on the settlement of that issue too.
Concrete cooperation was discussed in talks with City of London business people and Lord Mayor David Brewer, said Sanader.
Brewer said various business people from the City were very interested in cooperating with Croatia and often visited it.
Tonight, Sanader is due to give a talk on Croatia as the 28th member of the EU at London's
International Institute for Strategic Studies.