Presidential home policy adviser Igor Dekanic told reporters after the meeting that Mesic said that in the process of European integration minorities represented a bridge of cooperation between neighbouring countries and a factor of cohesion.
Mesic also said that the position of the minorities should be developed in the countries where they live, that Croatia as their parent country would not forget them and that their activities and their integration into the countries where the live should be to their mutual satisfaction.
The head of the Croatian Emigrants' Association, Nikola Jelincic, said that the Croatian minority communities living in the countries that had joined the European Union were expected to lobby for Croatia in its efforts to join the bloc.
Asked to comment on the results of Sunday's local elections in Serbia, the president of the Croatian National Council of Serbia and Montenegro, Josip Ivanovic, said that the Radical Party was likely to win the post of mayor and win a majority in Sombor and Novi Sad. He added that this would not improve prospects for the Croats in Serbia and Montenegro and would slow the process of democratisation.
Ivanovic said that Croatia should clearly define its policy towards Croatian minorities and indigenous Croatian communities in the surrounding countries.
As major problems of Croatian minorities, Ivanovic cited the problem of acquiring Croatian citizenship, the non-participation of Croatian minority representatives in decision-making processes in the countries where they live and in the distribution of funds intended for Croats living outside Croatia.
Ivanovic expressed hope that Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro would soon sign an agreement on minorities, which he said would expand possibilities of cooperation.