One of the priorities of the Hungarian EU Presidency is the integration of the Western Balkans with the European Union, which in this case refers to Croatia's admission to the bloc, Koever told a news conference held after his talks with Croatian Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic, who was on an official visit to Hungary.

We want the negotiations to be completed during Hungary's EU presidency, Koever reiterated.

Bebic recalled that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had stated several times that Croatia's EU membership was one of the priorities of Hungary's presidency of the EU in the first half of 2011.

"We want to sign an accession treaty during Hungary's EU presidency," Bebic said, adding that Hungary was the first country to ratify the agreement between Croatia and NATO.

Aside from Croatia's EU entry talks, Bebic and his Hungarian counterpart also talked about the mutual protection of ethnic minorities.

The position of Croats in Hungary and of Hungarians in Croatia has been regulated well, Koever said.

Bebic said this issue had been regulated to the largest extent, but that the issue of the Croat ethnic minority representative in the Hungarian parliament remained to be dealt with.

Changes to the constitution and the election law have been sent to the Hungarian parliament earlier this year under which ethnic minorities in the country, including the Croat minority, would have deputies in the new Hungarian parliament in 2014. The Hungarian ethnic minority in Croatia has its representative in the Croatian parliament.

Koever also said that Budapest was interested in Croatia's experience in representing its citizens abroad.

Both Koever and Bebic agreed that the two countries had very good, fruitful relations that were not burdened by outstanding issues.

Later today Bebic was also expected to hold talks with Hungarian President Pal Schmitt and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen.