Sanader is in Washington on a working visit, and on Monday, in his capacity as president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, he attended a conference of the International Democratic Union (IDU), an association of conservative parties.
Sanader and other conference participants are scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush in the White House on Tuesday, and the Croatian prime minister is also due to have bilateral talks with US Presidential National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and representatives of the Croatian caucus in the House of Representatives of the US Congress.
"First of all, of course, we will talk about the European Union and NATO," Sanader told Croatian reporters in Washington on Monday. "The EU accession process is at a standstill and we want to restart it as soon as possible, and with regard to NATO, we want to say clearly what Croatia's prospects are," he added.
Sanader said that he and President Bush would discuss bilateral relations. "I will tell him what we expect from the United States, and he will certainly tell me what he expects from Croatia," he said.
Sanader said that he would highlight Croatia's role as a factor of stability in Southeast Europe, which he said had not yet achieved lasting political stability.
"We will try to further promote Croatia as a stable country, a country of stable democracy, which can serve as a bridge between the European Union and Southeast Europe, as well as between transatlantic cooperation and Southeast Europe," the Croatian prime minister said.
"We expect the US to recognise this role of Croatia and to value it accordingly," he stressed.
Sanader said he was satisfied with the present relations between Croatia and the United States. "I think we are very satisfied. There are no outstanding issues," he said.
At the IDU conference, Sanader signed the 1983 London declaration whereby the HDZ became a member of the organisation, which gathers more than 80 conservative, Christian Democratic and similar centrist and centre-right parties from 60 countries.
Addressing the conference, Sanader said that "Croatia is at the threshold of the European Union and NATO and has become a model country for Southeast Europe."
"It is certainly a great success for our party," he later told reporters. "Now we have to take advantage of the fact that the HDZ is at the helm of Croatia and use our influence among similar parties in Europe and the world to advance and strengthen Croatia's international position."