Expressing great satisfaction with the talks, Grabar-Kitarovic said that "relations between Croatia and Canada have intensified, improved and broadened" since the conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to power early this year.
"Minister MacKay was very positive. I truly believe that we will continue our very good cooperation and that Canada will support Croatia at the Riga summit and on its path to NATO in general," Grabar-Kitarovic told Hina by telephone.
The talks also focused on cooperation between Canada and Croatia at the multilateral level, in international organisations, UN peace missions and the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, where both countries have their contingents.
Also discussed was the continuation of political and technical dialogue between the foreign ministries of the two countries, development of economic cooperation and trade, Canadian investments, an increasing number of Canadian tourists visiting Croatia, business ties between Canadian and Croatian regions, cooperation in the shipbuilding sector and cooperation between the Croatian port of Rijeka and Canadian port of Halifax.
Asked if any progress has been made in dealing with the problem of Canadian visas, which has burdened the relationship between the two countries since 1996 and created problems for Croatian nationals, the minister said: "For the first time there is a real desire to move forward on this, to take into consideration the position of Croatian citizens who have to fill in numerous visa forms, and to analyse the whole visa issue."
It was proposed that a Canadian delegation visit Croatia to see for themselves the progress that has been made in the last ten years.
The visa issue was also the subject of her talks with Immigration Minister Monte Solberg on Tuesday.
Grabar-Kitarovic was scheduled to meet the speakers of both houses of parliament in Ottawa on Wednesday and then travel to Toronto to meet representatives of the Croatian emigrant community.
"The Croatian emigrants are an important factor in bilateral relations between Croatia and Canada and a very important part of this visit. Their role in the political and economic life of Croatia should be more prominent," Grabar-Kitarovic concluded.