Sanader hailed the fact that Dzurinda arrived to Croatia for an official visit as the first PM since Zagreb opened negotiations with the EU on 3 October, stressing that "Slovakia has indeed fully supported Croatia from the start... at all stages, especially Prime Minister Dzurinda".
Addressing the press at a joint conference held after the talks, the Slovak PM said that on 3 October there was not very many people in Europe who believed that the negotiations with Zagreb would be launched.
"But the two of us (Dzurinda and Sanader) believed and worked on that," Dzurinda said and congratulated the Croatian people on the success.
"I arrived with an offer from our team of top negotiators who are ready and willing to cooperate, Dzurinda said.
Responding to Slovak reporters who wondered when Croatia would complete the negotiations, Sanader said the country believed that its candidates would participate in the elections for the European Parliament in June 2009. Commenting on the suggestion that his prognosis was maybe too optimistic, Sanader said he never heard of a pessimist who had succeeded.
A country's membership of the EU is not only an issue of money, it is primarily an issue of security because conditions for development exist only in a safe country and a safe Europe, said Dzurinda who also brought to Zagreb a concrete proposal on how to join NATO as efficiently and as fast as possible.
Declining to reveal details of the plan before discussing it with his host, Dzurinda only said that the proposal referred to the strengthening of positions and capacities in relation to negotiations with the United States and Europe.
Prime Minister Dzurinda also held talks with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks.