Mesic said this was an opportunity to put things in the proper historical perspective and once against point out that historical revisionism is unacceptable and dangerous.
He said the antifascist struggle in WW2 enabled Croatia to see the end of the war on the side of the victorious allies, despite the existence of the Nazi-styled Independent State of Croatia, and that this fact in great part determined postwar Croatia.
Mesic said that British interests at that historic moment were the same as the interests of antifascist Croatia, which he added were embedded in the foundations of the present-day independent and democratic Croatia.
"Great Britain isn't and has never been Croatia's enemy," the president said, adding he was satisfied Croatia's negotiations on admission to united Europe were launched during Britain's presidency of the European Union.
He labelled claims that Great Britain had been blocking Croatia because of anti-Croat sentiment as ridiculous.
British Ambassador John Ramsden said the values which united Great Britain and Croatia in WW2, peace, freedom, tolerance and the rule of law, were the same values uniting them today. He added the aim of the round-table debate was to pay homage to achievements in WW2 and elevate the level of knowledge about that period.
Before the debate, Mesic and Ramsden saw an exhibition of remembrances of people who lived on Vis in 1943-5, when British troops were deployed on the Croatian island.
Others who took part in the debate included Rod Bailey of the Imperial War Museum in London, Zagreb University professor Ivo Goldstein, and Budimir Loncar, a minister in the Tito government and eminent diplomat.