Grabar-Kitarovic, who attended the Athens meeting as a member of the SEECP Troika consisting of representatives of the former, current and next chair of the association, Romania, Greece and Croatia respectively, spoke about the positive impacts of Croatia's membership talks with the European Union on developments in the region.
Grabar-Kitarovic said that during the Croatian chairmanship over the SEECP from May 2006 to May 2007, Zagreb would pay attention to the European aspirations of SEECP members.
The members of this association are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia-Montenegro and Turkey, while Moldova is an observer.
Other priorities during Croatia's chairmanship will be the development of good neighbourly relations and economic cooperation, joint efforts to counter organised crime, corruption and terrorism, as well as cooperation in environmental protection and the development of transport, energy and communication infrastructures, etc.
Foreign agencies have quoted Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis as saying that south-eastern Europe must reject its past marked by violence and enhance political and economic cooperation.
South-east Europe deserves to be a region of cooperation and dialogue and to be integrated with international institutions as part of Europe, where it belongs, the Greek official said.
The SEECP was established in Sofia in 1996 at Bulgaria's initiative. Croatia became a full member of this regional association which promotes cooperation, good neighbourliness and stability in October 2004.