Mesic said that this would not be unusual if Croatia had not had a rather turbulent recent past.
Before it could dedicate itself to Euro-Atlantic integration processes, Croatia had to win a brutal and imposed war, free and reintegrate its occupied territory, provide for numerous displaced persons and refugees, and rebuild its destroyed infrastructure and good neighbourly relations, Mesic said.
Some of the blame for the slow European start must be placed on Croatia's isolationist policy which lasted until 2000, the president said.
However, after the change of government in 2000 and the arrival of people with a new orientation and a new vision, the true transformation of society started, and "it was only then that standards of the rule of law were imposed and that Croatia embarked on the path towards Europe".
Good neighbourly relations as a precondition for integration with the EU became one of the top foreign policy priorities, Mesic said, adding that the international community had known how to recognise and support such a policy.
"Over the last seven years fascinating progress has been made in relations among the countries in the region. That progress exceeded all expectations," Mesic said, adding that all problems in the region had not been solved and that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo remained outstanding issues.
As a neighbouring country and signatory to the Dayton peace agreement, Croatia wants to see Bosnia and Herzegovina start to function as an independent and integral state and that is the only option it will support, Mesic said.
Speaking of Kosovo, he said that the status quo in the province was untenable and that Croatia believed that the plan proposed by UN special representative Martti Ahtisaari could play an important role in the process of finding a solution.
Along with stronger regional cooperation, Croatia wants its international position to be as strong as possible, which is why it has applied for membership in the UN Security Council in 2008/2009, which Cyprus has supported, Mesic said.
The president added that Croatia's internal democratic development and contribution to international peace missions, the implementation of necessary reforms and the support of a majority of Croatians had brought the country to the threshold of NATO, whose membership invitation it expects to receive at the 2008 summit in Bucharest.
Despite the problems caused by the war and the post-war period, Croatia's admission to the EU and NATO in the near future is a reality, Mesic said at the end of the speech that was attended by the Cypriot foreign minister and members of the diplomatic corps.
Mesic ends his visit to Cyprus on Friday by meeting Cypriot Archbishop Chrysostomos II and visiting the town of Pafos in the southwestern part of the island. Earlier on Thursday Mesic met President Tassos Papadopoulos, Parliament Speaker Dimitris Christofias and Nicosia Mayor Eleni Mavrou, and visited the buffer zone dividing the Cypriot capital in two parts, a Greek and a Turkish one. He also briefly met with seven Croatian police officers and soldiers, members of the UN peace mission on Cyprus.