The conference was organised by the Robert Schuman Institute, with the support of the European Union. In attendance are representatives of political parties, advisors in bodies of authority, members of national minority councils and other national minority representatives from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
Sanader said Croatia had made great headway in the protection of the rights and freedoms of minorities, and that minorities were represented very well in Parliament and all other levels of government.
He added a Council of National Minorities had been set up, and that its representatives Aleksandar Tolnauer and Sinisa Tatalovic were attending the conference.
"Croatia is developing as a multicultural society into which national minorities are fully integrated. National minorities are valuable, not a problem, they are bridges which connect and not separate," said Sanader.
He thanked national minorities for their contribution to Croatia's process of integration with the European Union. "We want to enter the EU because we share the same values and not because we think it's an elite club."
Sanader said an agreement on the protection of ethnic minorities would be signed during his visit to Belgrade next week, adding it would be a big step in the further normalisation of Croatia's relations with Serbia and Montenegro.
Kinga Gal Mep addressed the conference on behalf of the European Parliament, while Erhard von der Bank spoke on behalf of the Robert Schuman Institute.