Slovak, Croatian presidents meet to discuss cooperation

- Slovakia and Croatia will keep working together to facilitate Croatia's entry to the European Union (EU), leaders of both countries agreed here on Tuesday.

Croatian President Stjepan Mesic arrived in the Slovak capital on Tuesday for a short visit, to say good-bye to his Slovak counterpart Ivan Gasparovic.

This was believed to be Mesic's last foreign visit in the capacity as Croatian president, as he is expected to resign by the end of the year after a ten-year tenure.

"During the time we met in our positions, we have made a great progress in building the positive relations between our two countries," the Slovak president said.

Mesic expressed his gratitude to Slovakia for the help given to Croatia during its accession talks with NATO and the EU.

"You have convinced me that small countries must cooperate and that this cooperation can get better result," Mesic was quoted as saying by the local media.

Croatia hopes to end the talks on its EU accession in 2009 and to join the regional bloc in 2011.

Source: Xinhua