"Problems should be solved through dialogue instead of with violence, since that is the only way to get rid of wars and conflicts in the world and achieve prosperity," Khatami said after meeting Mesic.
The Croatian president said his country strongly supported the policy of nonproliferation of nuclear weapons as well as Tehran's talks with European countries on the Iranian nuclear programme.
"I am confident that Iran is entering those talks with good intentions and a wish to make them mutually beneficial," Mesic stressed.
Apart from bilateral relations, the two heads of state also discussed the situation in the region, the Middle East, Iraq and the rest of the world.
They agreed that the recent elections in Iraq bore proof that the Iraqi people wanted peace, and voiced hope that the elections marked the start of stabilisation of the situation in the country.
Khatami called for an end to the American occupation of Iraq, stressing that a safe and stable Iraq was in the interests of Iran and the entire world. "We want the occupation of Iraq to end as soon as possible so that the UN and the international community can rebuild the country," said Khatami, the first Iranian president to visit Croatia.
"Croatia is willing to provide assistance in the process, in cooperation with the UN and in accordance with its potential," said Mesic, who paid an official visit to Iran in June 2001.
Both presidents rejected violence and terrorism as a means of achieving peace between the Palestinians and Israelis. "We welcome the first moves of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The peoples of the Middle East deserve peace, and terrorism cannot be the means to achieve it," Mesic said, with Khatami adding that the rights of the Palestinian people must be achieved without violence.
The Iranian president called for strengthening relations between Iran and Croatia, which he said are located in the sensitive areas of the Middle East and Balkans.
The two countries have decided to continue on the road of development and strengthening of their scientific and social positions in the world, while protecting their identity, Khatami said, adding that Croatian history bore witness to Croatia's importance as a link between East and West and Europe and Asia.
President Mesic said that bilateral relations were improving, but not fast enough, and that there was room for their promotion.
The two presidents said that agreements on cooperation between the two countries' academies of sciences, national TV networks and the Zagreb and Tehran chambers of commerce that were signed in their presence today, were expected to contribute to the promotion of bilateral relations.
Later in the day, Khatami will hold a lecture at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and meet representatives of the Islamic community in Croatia.