"I thanked Secretary of State Clinton for the support Croatia is receiving from the US, which is especially important in this final stage of EU accession negotiations," Jandrokovic told Croatian reporters in New York where he was attending the 65th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Jandrokovic said that the Afghanistan mission was one of the main topics of his talks with NATO ministers, adding that it was noted that "Croatia is increasing and will continue to increase the number of instructors for the Afghan military and police."

When asked to assess the overall involvement of Croatia in NATO since its accession in April 2009, Jandrokovic said that Croatia made the most of its membership.

"The position of Croatia within NATO is firm and stable. We have been recognised as a responsible and reliable partner and we will remain so," he said.

Speaking of the NATO-Russia forum, Jandrokovic said that the participants agreed that "considerable progress" had been made in the past few months. He said that the meeting focused on topics of common interest, as well as on disagreements over issues such as Kosovo and Georgia.

He said that possible areas of cooperation between NATO and Russia were Afghanistan, the fight against terrorism, against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and against piracy.

Jandrokovic was also scheduled to attend a ministerial meeting of Southeast European countries.