The Serbian government will give some 66,000 euros for the Council's activities this year, and the rest will be provided by the Serbian-Montenegrin ministry of human and minority rights.
HNV president Josip Ivanovic on Wednesday welcomed the decision as a herald of important changes in the treatment of ethnic minorities.
Commenting on anti-Croat incidents in 2004, Ivanovic said that "there are some structures of society that are still trying to make the life of the Croat community more difficult".
"What is encouraging is the fact that the current Serbian authorities and parliament are showing the political will to solve those problems," the ethnic Croat representative said.
Croatia's Ambassador to Belgrade, Tonci Stanicic, said that 2004 was not easy for Croats in Serbia, but that judging by what had been done so far, "2005 and the following years are likely to be better".
"The Republic of Croatia will offer support to the Croat community in a bid to organise them better," the ambassador said.