U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has expressed full support for Croatia's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union.
WASHINGTON, October 17, 2006. - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has expressed full support for Croatia's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the European Union, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said after their meeting in the State Department.
"Secretary of State Rice commended Croatia for everything we have done so far and expressed full support for Croatia's membership of NATO and the EU," Sanader told reporters after the meeting that lasted nearly twice as long as the scheduled 30 minutes.
Sanader said that one should not be surprised by US support for Croatia's EU membership bid because the US administration was well informed of the progress of Croatia's accession talks with the EU.
The talks focused on the prospects of Croatia joining the Euro-Atlantic community, the Trans-Atlantic Partnership, relations in Europe, and world hot spots. The two sides agreed that bilateral relations were good.
"The talks mainly concentrated on outstanding issues in Europe, ranging from Kosovo and constitutional reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the latest escalation of relations between Georgia and Russia. We also discussed Croatia's role in stabilising the political situation in Southeast Europe," Sanader said.
The US Secretary of State and the Croatian Prime Minister also discussed the expansion of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) zone to include Moldova and Ukraine, and the Croatian presidency of the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP).
"We agreed that this part of Europe should not be forgotten because problems relating to North Korea, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan," the Croatian Prime Minister said.
According to him, the US supports Croatia's efforts in the processes in Southeast Europe and agrees with Zagreb's view that Croatia should not become "hostage to the situation there", but should be enabled to join the EU and NATO as soon as possible.
On Tuesday, Sanader is due to meet US President George W. Bush in the White House and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the Pentagon.
The Croatian delegation includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, the Minister of the Economy, Branko Vukelic, and the Minister of Culture, Bozo Biskupic.
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