He underlined that he and President Mesic held bilateral meetings with about 30 world statesmen on the fringes of the 61st General Assembly meeting in an effort to secure support for Croatia's election to the UN Security Council for the 2008-09 term.
"The effort President Mesic and I invested was certainly important, including his visit to Cuba (last week to attend) the Non-Aligned Movement summit. We agreed that contacts with (those statesmen) should continue because every vote will count."
Asked when he would return to the United States for an announced official visit to Washington, Sanader said the final talks between the Croatian and U.S. governments were still under way, but added the visit "will certainly (occur) very soon".
The Croatian Embassy in Washington has announced that the first official visit by a Croatian premier to the White House is expected to take place in October or November.