Answering questions from Croatian reporters, she said the entry talks might start in March or April.
The minister said the decision on the entry talks was still being placed in the context of Croatia's cooperation with the Hague tribunal, notably due to fugitive general Ante Gotovina. She added the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, was expected to report about the cooperation to the U.N. Security Council on November 23.
Grabar-Kitarovic said she hoped del Ponte would report that the Gotovina issue still existed but that Croatia cooperated with the tribunal within its possibilities.
In Washington, the minister held talks about Croatia's EU integration process, cooperation with the Hague tribunal, and the Gotovina case.
In the State Department she met the deputy assistant state secretary for Europe and Eurasia, Kathleen Stephens, and the deputy assistant state secretary for the EU, Glyn Davies, while in Congress she met deputies Mellisa Hart and Dana Rohrbacher.
Grabar-Kitarovic told the Croatian press Croatia was encouraged to continue cooperating with the Hague tribunal.
She said the talks with the U.S. officials underlined that the United States fully supported Croatia's admission to the EU and acknowledged Croatia's efforts to meet EU membership criteria.
The minister reiterated Croatia wanted to be ready for joining by 2007, and that the admission date did not depend on Croatia but on the EU.
She also said the talks with the U.S. officials underlined the two countries' common interest in the stabilisation of Southeast Europe, in which she added Croatia's EU integration process and insistence on regional cooperation played an important part.