An agreement on the establishment of the body was signed by the presidents of the minority's councils for Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Split-Dalmatia counties, and for the cities of Zagreb, Rijeka and Split.
According to the document, the coordinating body was set up to agree and advance common interests, the positions of the Montenegrin minority councils and their representation in Croatia.
Initiating Committee chairman Veselin Simovic said there were about 5,000 Montenegrins in Croatia, and that the coordinating body represented the implementation of an important provision of the constitutional law on ethnic minorities' rights.
Montenegrin Parliament Speaker Ranko Krivokapic said it was a great honour to be present at the establishment of the coordinating body.
He said Montenegro would be independent next April and that it would then invest considerable effort to be able to join the European Union together with Croatia.
Krivokapic went on to say that the objective was to return Montenegro among the free European peoples, and that the time ahead would bring justice to the Balkans and strengthen Montenegro-Croatia relations.
Croatian presidential envoy Vladimir Loncarevic conveyed Stjepan Mesic's wish that the coordinating body would operate successfully.
The chairman of the Croatian Council for Ethnic Minorities, Aleksandar Tolnauer, said that multiethnicity was a characteristic of EU member countries.
The head of the Croatian Government Office for Ethnic Minorities, Milena Klajner, offered assistance to the coordinating body.
The president of the Montenegrin Cultural Society, Branko Banjevic, said the founding of the coordinating body would upgrade Montenegrins' activity in Croatia. He added that the Montenegrins were the most creative and most intellectual emigrants in Croatia.
Many Croatian and Montenegrin state officials sent telegrams of congratulations.