The document was singed at the 22nd Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education of the Council of Europe which was taking place in Istanbul, Turkey, under the slogan "Building a more humane and inclusive Europe".
Present at the signing ceremony were officials of the European Commission, the Stability Pact, the Organisation for the Economic Cooperation and Development and of the Council of Europe.
On this occasion, Croatia was praised for its role in transferring European educational standards in southeastern European countries, according to the ministry's statement.
The Istanbul memorandum is the continuation of a 2003 memorandum that provided for the establishment of the Education Reform Initiative for South-Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) with the main offices in Zagreb.