The aim of the event, organised under the auspices of the European Liberal Party (ELDR) and the "Friedrich Neumann" foundation, is to discuss processes in Mediterranean countries and define steps to encourage their cooperation.
Addressing the event, the chairwoman of the national committee monitoring Croatia's European Union entry talks, Vesna Pusic, said that over the last ten years Croatia had undergone a large transformation and it had also changed significantly the understanding of its own identity.
"Combining the regional identities, central European, Mediterranean and Western Balkan ones, is a huge advantage of ours rather than a shortcoming," Pusic said.
IDS leader Ivan Jakovcic said that Istria and the IDS had in recent years intensified international cooperation with various institutions, adding that Istria had developed excellent relations with Catalonia.
"Catalonia is a friendly region similar to Istria," he said, adding that conferences like this one were useful now that Croatia was on the threshold of the EU.
Jakovcic also pointed out his party's cooperation with Convergencia Democratica de Catalunya which he said "has been in power in the strongest Mediterranean region for 20 years".