State Secretary Bakota received to a welcome visit the Romanian Ambassador Popa

State Secretary Bakota stressed he was pleased with the development of relations between the Republic of Croatia and Romania, which were friendly and with no remaining open issues. He thanked Romania for the support to Croatia in its efforts to join NATO and for the offered technical support in the process of accessing the European Union. For this reason, Agreement on co-operation in the context of Rapprochement and Accession to the European Union could be signed.

Ambassador Popa confirmed the bilateral relations between the two countries were excellent. She stressed Romania would continue to support the Republic of Croatia on its path to join the Euro-Atlantic integrations and said she hoped Croatia would be invited to join NATO on the next summit. Ambassador Popa offered Croatia Romania's experiences regarding the EU accession negotiations. Joint Statement of the Republic of Croatia and Romania Prime Ministers dating from March 2004 could serve as grounds for the aforementioned co-operation.

State Secretary Bakota and Ambassador Popa agreed it was necessary to enlarge the economy co-operation and to increase the economy exchange. As continuation of extremely good bilateral relations, Ambassador Popa announced the Romanian President would attend the South-Eastern European Presidents' Meeting, which will be held in Zagreb, in October 2005.