Meron is visiting Zagreb officially for the first time, and was speaking to reporters after meeting Justice Minister Vesna Skare-Ozbolt.
The minister said the Gotovina case was the only outstanding issue in Croatia's cooperation with the Hague tribunal, which she added was otherwise "good, open and without delays".
Meron said Gotovina was indeed the only outstanding issue, but underlined it was a very important one whose solving was of critical importance for him to be able to report that Croatia fully met its international commitments.
Meron said he would submit to the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council on November 15 and 23 reports on the Hague tribunal's work and cooperation with Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Serbia and Montenegro.
He voiced confidence the Croatian Justice Ministry would retain the central role in the meeting of Croatia's commitments to the Hague tribunal.
Meron said he was pleased with his Croatian visit, notably with meeting judges, adding he was able to see their professional standards were high, notably at the Supreme and the Zagreb County Court.
Meron said the Hague tribunal, which participated in the training of Croatian judges, was willing to continue sharing is experience so that war crime trials in Croatia could be fair, credible and professional.
In his last report to the U.N. Security Council on June 29, Meron said he doubted that Croatian courts were capable of holding credible war crime trials. He cited reports submitted by OSCE and EU observers on trials held in 2002 and 2003.
The Justice Ministry said Meron's visit was successful and useful, and that it would help change the opinion of Croatian courts' competence and ability to take over cases from the Hague tribunal, especially in view of expectations that the trial of generals Rahim Ademi and Mirko Norac would be turned over soon.
The minister said Meron was informed about what Croatia was doing to locate Gotovina and Croatia's judicial reform.
Meron ended his two-day stay in Croatia by meeting President Stjepan Mesic.