The meeting, organised by the Sarajevo firm "Revicon", brought together 250 participants from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro, and Slovenia.
The participants were addressed by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, who said that Croatia was going through a political, social and economic transition with the clearly defined goal of joining the European Union and NATO, attaining European standards and achieving continuous economic growth.
"We all have EU membership as our ultimate goal, and regardless of the speed at which every country will achieve this goal, we all must anticipate our European future. This means that we must be aware of the fact that in the not so distant future we will all live in a democratic and open European community of states and nations," Mesic said.
Mesic said that over the past few years Croatia had been involved in intense efforts to establish communication with its business partners.
"Our markets are compatible, our economies are comparable, our goals are the same, and everything speaks in favour of strengthening our economic cooperation," the President said.
Mesic said that Croatia wanted to play an active part in efforts to strengthen democratic processes in Southeast Europe, and that it could contribute to the economic development of the region and act as a bridge between Central and Southeast Europe. He concluded by saying that "a prosperous Croatia without a prosperous region is an illusion."
The gathering was also addressed by Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic, the Chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, and Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski, who all called for intense economic cooperation in order to achieve continuous economic growth and embrace European standards.