"There is still time until 17 March and we are preparing ourselves for negotiations," Grabar Kitarovic said on Wednesday before her visit to Vienna where she is due to hold talks with Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.
"If you do not believe in some goal, then you cannot accomplish that goal," the Croatian minister said adding that the postponement of the start of the entry talks would send a wrong signal.
On Thursday Grabar Kitarovic and her Austrian counterpart will hold talks on Croatia's efforts to join the European Union as well as on bilateral relations. The Croatian minister described Croatian-Austrian relations as excellent.
She added that she was going to inform Minister Plassnik of efforts which Croatia was making in order to locate the runaway general Ante Gotovina, who is wanted by the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal.
"We do not possess any information which might indicate that Gotovina is in Croatia," Grabar Kitarovic said recalling that out of 626 requests which the tribunal sent to Zagreb, 625 had so far been met.
"This does not mean that Croatia does not want to cooperate any longer. We, together with other countries, are searching for Gotovina. It is all the same whether Gotovina is in The Hague on 17 March or not, as Croatia's obligation to fully cooperate with the Hague tribunal will not cease with it," the Croatian minister said adding that her country's cooperation with the tribunal as not only a condition for its entry into the EU but also its commitment stipulated by the national legislation.