On the margins of the SEECP summit, Mesic held talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns and NATO Deputy Secretary general Alessandro Minuto Rizzo.
"With all of them I discussed Croatia and our role in the region, Croatia's progress in adopting European standards and what the country still must do to remove the remaining barriers, notably concerning the judicial and public administration reforms and the return of refugees," Mesic told reporters.
Burns told Mesic that the George Bush Administration would strongly support Croatia's admission into NATO at the summit in Bucharest in 2008, because the country was implementing the necessary reforms. According to Mesic, he also thanked Croatia on the help of Croat soldiers in Afghanistan and stressed that the US saw Croatia as a partner in the region when it came to further democratisation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and assisting other countries.
Commenting on the UN-administrated province of Kosovo, Burns said the US and its European partners would in the next several hours move a draft resolution to the UN security Council, proposing Kosovo's independence. He said he expected the resolution would be strongly supported and adopted by the end of the month, namely during the US presidency over the Security Council.
Mesic reiterated Croatia's position that a proposal by UN special envoy Maarti Ahtisaari was a good foundation for the final solution to the Kosovo status. He also acquainted Burns with a public campaign that Croatia had launched aimed at informing the citizens of democratic values NATO is promoting.
Mesic also told reporters he was dissatisfied with the election of Radical Tomislav Nikolic as the new president of the Serbian national assembly. adding, however, that a possible election of a democratic government could cushion the effects of Nikolic's election.
Mesic told reporters that the SEECP summit was dedicated to cooperation in the region, supported by all international factors.