"The fate of missing persons is a subject we in Croatia are especially interested in and we will request that the (tracing) be stepped up because we have to tell people the truth about the ones they are looking for," Sanader said in reply to questions from the press as to what he expected of his visit to Belgrade.
He spoke to reporters after an international conference on the participation of ethnic minorities in political decision making on the state and local levels, which is being held in Zagreb under his auspices.
Sanader said his talks in Belgrade would also address other issues in Croatia's relations with Serbia and Montenegro.
"My formal host is the President of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic. I will hold separate talks with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica."
Sanader is scheduled to visit Belgrade on Monday, which will be his first official visit to Serbia and Montenegro since Croatia gained independence.
Apart from Marovic and Kostunica, Sanader will meet Serbia and Montenegro Parliament Speaker Zoran Sami and representatives of the Croat National Council.
Since signing an agreement on the normalisation of relations in 1996, after the war and the aggression Croatia suffered at the hands of Serb paramilitary units and the former Yugoslav People's Army, relations between Croatia and the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, now Serbia and Montenegro, have been gradually improving.
The first steps were made by business people. Trade in 2003 was USD197 million, while in this year's first eight months it was USD200 million.
A notable incentive to the development of bilateral relations was made last year when Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and Marovic met in Belgrade for the first time. Although their apologies for the unfortunate events of the past elicited contradictory reactions, the two heads of state contributed to the creation of a climate facilitating understanding and cooperation.
Sanader's meetings with his hosts, notably talks on concrete bilateral issues with Kostunica, are expected to give new encouragement to the development of bilateral relations.
"There is no alternative to the normalisation of relations between Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro. The wounds from the past have to be healed. We must turn to the future, without forgetting the past," Sanader said in Thessaloniki last month, where he held talks with the Serbian PM and announced his first official visit to Belgrade.