We are doing our best to solve that issue by March 17, and the Croatian authorities, the government and President Mesic are doing everything they can within their jurisdiction, Skare Ozbolt told a news conference.
The general must appear before the ICTY and answer the tribunal's questions, Skare Ozbolt said and added it did not mean that everything stated in the indictment was true.
The prosecution represents only one side in the process and in order to make Europe see what was happening in Croatia it is important that general Gotovina appears in The Hague.
In an interview for Belgrade-based Vecernje Novosti daily, President Mesic said yesterday: "If he is in Croatia, we will certainly arrest him and hand him over, and if he is not, we will have evidence showing where he is."
Croatia's negotiations with the EU will start on 17 March on condition that Croatia fully cooperates with the ICTY. The tribunal's Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte said full cooperation meant the transfer of the fugitive general to the ICTY.