Pursuing such policy has sometimes been met with resistance but I believe that we have now the policy with the moral and political footing, Josipovic said in an interview which the national broadcaster (HTV) published on Saturday.
Asked how much the American support to Croatia's European Union membership bid could be significant, the president said that the USA was not an EU member and could not directly decide on (Croatia's admission), but being a great friend of Croatia and the EU, the United States could have a certain contribution to the recognition of Croatia's fulfillment of the membership criteria.
Commenting on the fact that as many as eight Croatian officials will be in the United States this month, Josipovic said that this was a well-concerted action of the Croatian diplomacy. He pointed out particularly the visits of Foreign and Defence Ministers, Gordan Jandrokovic and Davor Bozinovic, to Washington this past week.
Asked by the reporter whether he had talked with his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic about the arrest of Croatian war veteran Tihomir Purda, Josipovic answered in the negative.
Purda was arrested in Bosnia on a warrant issued by Serbia which accuses him of war crimes.
Josipovic confirmed that he and Tadic had discussed in principle a system for prosecuting and indicting war crimes perpetrators.
Josipovic believes that the case of war veteran Purda, currently detained in the Zenica prison, has worsened the situation in Croatia.
The Croatian president will depart for the US on Monday and attend on Wednesday a conference, "America at a Crossroad - the Dayton Accords and the Beginning of 21st Century Diplomacy," organised by former President Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative.
Held on the 15th anniversary of the Dayton agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the event will bring together about 400 participants, including the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, Bosnian Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe Wesley Clark, and former US Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbraith.
The conference will include a panel on the future of the region.