ZAGREB, Jan 10 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Saturday his participation in a two-day international forum on the future of Europe in Berlin was very successful. During the forum, Sanader held a series of
important bilateral talks.
ZAGREB, Jan 10 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on
Saturday his participation in a two-day international forum on the
future of Europe in Berlin was very successful. During the forum,
Sanader held a series of important bilateral talks.#L#
"I believe the visit to Berlin was very successful and useful for
Croatia. I also believe that we've managed to present Croatia as a
serious candidate for EU membership to important European factors who
also attended the conference," Sanader told reporters after the
Bertelsmann forum.
"Many officials at the conference recognised Croatia's maturity and
the fact that it achieved a level of development which guarantees that
Croatia can be a goog partner to the European Union and a factor of
stability in the region, which is expected of us and which is also in
Croatia's interest," Sanader said.
Prime Minister Sander and Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul held a series
of bilateral meetings during which they asked of their interlocutors
to support Croatia's European ambitions.
In this year's first half Croatia expects of the European Commission
to adopt a positive opinion about Croatia's application for EU
membership and of the European Council to grant it the status of a
candidate and set the date for the start of negotiations on full
membership.
Over the past two days, the Croatian prime minister held talks with
his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern, who is chairing the European
Council in this year's first half, as well as the prime ministers of
Turkey, Romania and Montenegro, Tayyip Erdogan, Adrian Nastase and
Milo Djukanovic respectively. Sanader also met Slovene President Janez
Drnovsek, commission for European Union expansion Guenter Verheugen,
Italian European Integration Minister Rocco Buttiglione, president of
Germany's opposition Demo-Christian Party (CDU) Angela Merkel and
former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Sanader particularly stressed the importance of his meeting with Ahern
who promised him that, as Irish prime minister and chairman of the
European Council, he would help Croatia to receive the EU candidate
status in the first half od this year.
(Hina) it sb