As the country chairing the SEECP, Croatia has recognised the importance of the current political moment in Southeast Europe, a time of shaping of the region's genuine European character, Sanader said in his keynote speech.
Without a doubt, the European and Euro-Atlantic capacities of Southeast Europe are growing and the region is on the threshold of renewed maturity and modernity, he added.
The summit is taking place during Croatia's one-year presidency of the SEECP and the foreign ministers are due to discuss the situation in the region, the exit strategy of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe, and the SEECP's role as a political forum that will assume the leading role in regional cooperation.
Another topic will be Montenegro's future participation in the SEECP and the involvement of the European Commission and international donors in the new bodies of regional cooperation that will replace the Stability Pact.
The meeting is taking place behind closed doors and the foreign ministers of the SEECP Troika -- Greece, Croatia and Bulgaria -- will hold a press conference afterwards.
Croatia became the SEECP chair on 4 May 2006 and will be succeeded by Bulgaria in Zagreb on May 11.
Today the SEECP foreign ministers will launch the formal procedure of nominating the secretary and headquarters of the Council for Cooperation, a body to be set up at a summit of SEECP countries' presidents and prime ministers in Zagreb on May 11. The work of the secretariat would be financed by the countries in the region, the EC and interested donors.
Today's summit will end with the adoption of a joint declaration which will have a political dimension in an estimate of the situation in Southeast Europe in light of the most current issues, including Kosovo.
After the start of the conference, PM Sanader said that SEECP members are facing two important challenges: to define their European future and to solve issues inherited from the past so as to ensure a lasting peace and stability in southeastern Europe.
This meeting is important as there are still unsolved political problems in the region which should be solved in cooperation with international institutions, Sanader told reporters, adding that some of 10 SEECP member-states are members of the European Union and NATO.
Apart from Croatian officials, present at the Zagreb conference were foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Serbia, Turkish State Minister, Bulgarian and Greek Deputy Foreign Ministers. The event also gathered Kosovo's Prime Minister, Montenegrin officials and the OSCE Secretary-General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut.