He was speaking to the press after meeting Defence Minister Berislav Roncevic.
Commenting on fears in a part of the public that after joining NATO Croatia would have to send its troops to military missions in Iraq, Minuto Rizzo said NATO was not taking part in military missions in Iraq but solely in the training of Iraqi officers.
If Croatia joins NATO it will be required to participate in that in some way, but this does not mean that it will have to send people to Iraq, he said, adding that some NATO member states sent people and some money to the Iraqi officers training centre in Baghdad.
Minuto Rizzo underlined that NATO is primarily a political organisation pooling states which share identical values -- pluralism, freedom, democracy, tolerance, stability, and respect for minority rights.
He reiterated that with its ability to cooperate NATO had set up a security network in Europe and Asia, and that with its NATO membership Croatia would enter this network.
Minister Roncevic informed Minuto Rizzo of activities Croatia will undertake this year to meet its strategic goal of joining NATO.
He said he informed Rizzo that Croatia expected to receive from NATO's summit in Riga this November a strong signal that its efforts and reforms on the road to NATO had been recognised.
Roncevic said Croatia had met its commitments in a very good and very professional manner.