The meeting involved, among others, US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the head of the Libyan National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil. Also present was UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"Croatia recognised the Libyan transitional government quite some time ago and has given political support to positive developments there. Through the participation of our military officers, who were stationed in Italy, we made our contribution to NATO operations, thus supporting the positive processes in Libya," Josipovic said after the meeting.

"Now that the war is hopefully coming to an end, Croatia will try, through economic activities, to help the country get back to normal," he added, noting that Croatia had good relations with the transitional authority and was ready to assist in mine clearance operations and in the economic sector.

Josipovic said that there had been some "objections and dilemmas" as to why Croatia had not been invited to the Friends of Libya conference in Paris early this month, which was attended by 60 countries. "You can see that we have corrected that now and that we have participated in the talks on it with our allies. Of course, our contribution is in line with what we can do militarily and economically."

Josipovic said that not just in Libya, but in other countries too, political processes were under way that were important not just for the Arab world and North Africa, but for the entire world as well.

Responding to questions from Croatian reporters, Josipovic said that the text of Croatia's EU accession treaty should be made public as soon as possible.

"There are no secrets or sensations in it," he said, adding that if possible technically, he would post the document online immediately to make it available to all citizens of Croatia. He said it was never too late to do it, because there was still time before the referendum "and it is important that people know what they vote for."

Josipovic said he did not expect a Croatian ambassador to the United States to be appointed in the foreseeable future, because the procedures needed to be observed, including a proposal from the government, an opinion of the relevant parliamentary committee and then his opinion. "We have ambassadors in all countries except the United States, so we are not without ambassadors."

He said that he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, adding that "all these events surrounding the appointment of the ambassador do not have such magnitude as is given to them."

When asked to comment on the fact that Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic had not come to New York but had sent State Secretary Mario Nobilo instead, Josipovic said he could see no conflict in that, and that the reason for it was probably "the minister's schedule".

Also on Tuesday, President Josipovic attended a meeting of the Open Government Partnership, which was hosted by US President Barack Obama. On that occasion, Croatia formally joined this international initiative aimed at promoting transparency, freedom of the press and anti-corruption efforts.

"We already had a round table in Zagreb where a great interest was expressed in that initiative. There were representatives of the government, the opposition and non-governmental organisations, and we heard interesting speeches," Josipovic said. "That makes our government better," he added.

When asked by reporters who were covering the UN General Assembly session what Croatia's position was on the Palestinian statehood bid, Josipovic said it was still not known what the Palestinian request would be like, but added that it was important that a solution was reached through negotiation.

"It's good that negotiations are continuing. We will be closely following all developments," the Croatian president said.

Josipovic is scheduled to attend the opening of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. He is also due to attend a lunch given by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and later in the day he will be attending a reception given by President Obama at the New York Public Library.