The conference, organised by the National Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, pooled some 100 representatives of Croatian nongovernmental organisations and state institutions, as well as representatives of the European Union and European nongovernmental associations.
The event is aimed at initiating a discussion on possibilities of the implementation of a recent initiative of the European Commission about the need to advance dialogue among civil society organisations of the EU member and candidate states.
Kosor said that according to the latest figures there were 28,000 nongovernmental organisations in Croatia. "The Government wants to promote cooperation with civil organisations because it believes that their activities are important for the development of democracy and last year it allocated 150 million kuna from the state budget for their work," Kosor said.
The present were also addressed by a member of the steering committee of the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS), Raymond Georis and the British Ambassador to Croatia, Sir John Ramsden.