Zuzul was attending a debate called "European Club" which also included senior officials from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Serbia and Montenegro.
Zuzul said he was confident that negotiations with the European Union would start on March 17 and that it was up to the Croatian government to do its utmost to make this happen. Possible delays in negotiations would have serious consequences and this must not happen, Zuzul said.
"Croatia's message at this meeting is that 2004 was indeed a year of great changes regarding the country's integration with the EU," the Croatian minister told the participants in the conference, investors, bankers and other representatives of institutions and corporations.
Zuzul stressed that the interest of foreign investors in Croatia had increased last year, which he said could be linked with the country's integration with the EU, as could the reduction of the external debt, an improved credit rating, and better results of the tourist season.
Zuzul said that the conference in Vienna, which pooled more than 800 people, was very important and prestigious because it gathered people who decided about investments and indirectly influenced public opinion in some countries.
"I think this is a good opportunity to present and promote Croatia and establish economic relations and cooperation," Zuzul said at the conference.
Opening the two-day conference, which pooled business people, politicians and people from the financial sector, Austrian President Heinz Fischer said the future of central and eastern European countries was tied to the future of the European Union.