Poland strongly supports Croatia's aspirations to join the European Union and NATO, Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga said in the Croatian capital Zagreb on Thursday.

"I would like to emphasize Poland's unlimited support to Croatia's aspirations for membership of the European Union and NATO," Fotyga was quoted as saying by the Croatian HINA news agency.

Poland was willing to share with Croatia, its most important partner in southeastern Europe, its experience from the process of accession to the EU, Fotyga said, after meeting her Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

Fotyga was on her first official visit to Croatia as the two countries were marking the 15th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in 2007.

Bilateral trade increased 33 percent in the 2005/2006 period and the number of Polish tourists vacationing on the Croatian Adriatic coast rose 14 percent last year, Grabar-Kitarovic said.

"Croatia is interested in Poland's experience in the process of integration with the European Union, particularly in the use and implementation of EU pre-accession aid and in the use of cohesion and structural funds," she said.

In early February, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said that Croatia expected an invitation to join NATO at the alliance's next summit in the spring of 2008, and the Balkan country would join the European Union by the end of the decade regardless of whether or not a new European Constitution would be adopted.

The two female ministers said that political and economic relations between Poland and Croatia were very good and that there were no outstanding issues between them. They agreed that there was still room for boosting the bilateral cooperation, particularly in the economic sector.

The ministers also discussed topics relating to global security and cooperation between the two countries within NATO and the NATO- lead ISAF mission in Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua