(Hina) - Croatia is part of the European mosaic but it needs to be Croatocentric and we will no longer use the term region but neighbourhood, Croatia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miro Kovač said on Friday, addressing a round table on Croatia as a junction of central and southeast Europe.
The discussion was organised by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU) and the German Hanns-Seidel Foundation.
Croatia's task today has to be "functional relations with all its neighbours," Minister Kovač said.
"The constituent and equal rights of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and (its) accession to the EU are two sides of the same medal," Kovač said. Bosnia was the first country he visited after coming into office.
Croats are the most European of the three peoples in Bosnia and they are the most interested in the country's European integration, and it is vital that all three peoples in Bosnia share a common European vision, Kovač said. "Now we are embarking on regulating relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina."
Regarding his visits to other neighbouring countries, Kovač mentioned Italy and said that its Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni would soon visit Croatia. Kovač added that he had also visited Slovenia and Hungary with which relations had been tense due to the unresolved border issue with Slovenia and disagreements with Hungary, but he added that he is an "optimist."
In that regard, he said Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban had helped Croatia with its accession to the EU and that "needs to be valued."
Croatia supports Montenegro's accession to NATO, he said and assessed that perhaps the most progress had been made with regard to relations with that country since the 90s wars.
He considers it an omission that not one Croatian county has direct cooperation with Burgenland in Austria and that this is something that the government should promote in cooperation with Burgenland.
He commended Macedonia for its share in shouldering the burden of the migrant crisis and said, "We are destined to be connected with each other."
Peter Witterauf of the Hanns-Seidel Foundation made the introductory speech at the gathering. The Foundation was founded in Bavaria in 1967 to promote international dialogue and Europe's unification. Today it has several offices in other countries. The foundation established an office in Zagreb in 1997 which is also the central office for southeast Europe.