The main message of the Facing Tomorrow 2012 conference is facing the future and the participants in the event taking place in Jerusalem under the auspices of Israeli President Shimon Peres will also be interested in Croatia's perspective, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
He arrived yesterday, at Peres's invitation, to attend the conference of about 4,000 political, economic and cultural figures.
"The message of this conference is facing the future. President Peres is one of those people who, despite an advanced age, primarily looks towards the future, which is why he has convened this conference so that some of the political, economic and cultural leaders could say how they see the future," Josipovic told Croatian reporters.
"Of course, I'm here to present the look into the future from our perspective, the perspective of a country which... is on the threshold of the European Union, which has its problems, and to elaborate... how we see our membership of the Union, what are its future benefits," he said, adding that he would also speak about Southeast Europe.
"In a way, we are on the edge of the European Union. Geographically, we belong to our neighbourhood to which we are linked by a good and a bad history and it's part of our national interest to help build a common European future. That's our strategic interest, which is why it's never enough for us politicians to think about peace when looking into the future and those mechanisms that will provide peace."
Josipovic added that without peace, security and stability, "it's illusory to talk about economic or any other prospects."
On the fringes of the conference, he met with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
Josipovic said Blair "has always been a very interesting interlocutor with a vision. He offers a global perspective and here he is trying to promote peace through the concept of two states."
He described Kissinger as "an icon of world politics. It was interesting to talk about processes in the world, Europe and our region... notably about Croatia's position as a European country as well as a country of Southeast Europe."
I expect Croatia to become an inseparable part of the European Union and any other political organisation that will exist in Europe, Kissinger told Croatian reporters. During his talk with Josipovic, he recalled having visited Zagreb as secretary of state with President Richard Nixon.
