The meeting in New York was attended by the foreign ministers of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia, Miomir Zuzul, Kastriot Islami and Ilinka Mitreva, respectively, and the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
Zuzul told Croatian reporters after the talks the meeting went very well and that it focused on concrete steps within the Charter regarding the three countries' drawing closer to NATO.
"I believe that we agreed during the talks that the Istanbul declaration allows us to conclude that if all goes well each of the three countries stand good chances to fully join NATO as early as 2006 or 2007," Zuzul told reporters.
He said that after the NATO summit in Istanbul this summer Croatia was stressing that the declaration adopted at the summit was setting a framework for the three countries' joining the Alliance.
"Whether this will come true primarily depends on our activities," Zuzul said.
The Croatian minister said both Powell and undersecretary Marc Grossman, who also took part in the meeting, clearly said that regardless of who was in power, the United States would continue to support activities within the U.S. Adriatic Charter.
The meeting was also attended by the foreign minister of Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Vuk Draskovic and Mladen Ivanic respectively.
During the talks it was agreed that Croatia will host a meeting of the Adriatic Charter member countries at the ministerial level. The meeting will most probably be held in the northern Adriatic town of Pula on November 12-14.
Zuzul said he also held talks with undersecretary Grossman and assistant Secretary of State Elisabeth Jones.
Zuzul told reporters that his talks with the U.S. officials did not focus on Croatia's military engagement in Iraq or the signing of an agreement on the non-extradition of U.S. citizens to the International Criminal Court (ICC).. He also said the U.S. officials did not criticise Croatia.
According to Zuzul, the U.S. officials hailed the expansion of Croatia's activities in Afghanistan.
Talking about Croatia's position on Iraq, Zuzul said: "Our standpoits are known and they are unchanged".
Croatia does not wish to be military involved in Iraq and does not wish to sign the agreement on the non-extradition of U.S. citizens to ICC, Zuzul said.