Croatia is an example in the region in terms of progress to the European Union, and I must note that it has implemented a good part of the aquis communautaire, Bot said at a press conference in Zagreb after meeting the Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.
Bot said he was admired by the steps being taken by the Croatian government as part of its action plan to track down fugitive general Ante Gotovina and hand him over to the Hague war crimes tribunal.
That is important not only for Croatia but also for other countries in the region which have European aspirations and which are required to transfer war crimes indictees to The Hague, the Dutch minister said.
Bot said that his country would continue assisting Croatia in preparations for the opening of EU membership talks.
Both ministers described Croatian-Dutch relations as excellent, and Grabar-Kitarovic thanked the Netherlands for its assistance.
Grabar-Kitarovic said that the relationship between the two countries would be intensified in the tourism sector, adding that the Croatian National Tourism Board would open an office in Amsterdam.
Bot announced some specific projects, including the restoration of a ferry service on the Danube near the eastern town of Vukovar, which he said was important for economic and social reconstruction and regional cooperation.
The Dutch minister arrived in Zagreb after paying tribute to the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in eastern Bosnia on Monday.
It was an impressive and moving ceremony where those present issued a call for justice and not for revenge, Bot said.
In this context he said that it was of extreme importance for Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic to be arrested and brought to the Hague tribunal.
Asked to comment on the failure by Serbian President Boris Tadic to apologise for the crimes Serb forces had committed in Srebrenica, Bot said that it was not up to Tadic to tell Serbia and Montenegro what to do.