ZAGREB, Croatia-Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said Wednesday that next month's NATO summit and President George W. Bush's visit to Croatia will be another turning point in his country's efforts to strengthen its ties with Western Europe and the United States.

Croatia hopes to be formally invited to join NATO during the alliance's summit in Romania's capital on April 2-4. Afterward, Bush is scheduled to fly to Zagreb to meet with Sanader and may give a speech to the nation.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Sanader said a NATO invitation would be "part of a crown in a process of joining the Euro-Atlantic associations" and that the Bush visit will be "an honor" that is "warmly welcomed" in Croatia.

Bush will only be the second U.S. president to visit this country since its independence in 1991. President Bill Clinton made a brief stop in Croatia 12 years ago.

The Bush visit will be "a very historic event for our bilateral relationship," Sanader said. "We consider it a gesture of friendship and partnership."

Those ties have not always been problem free.

Croatia opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq and angered Washington by refusing to join many other countries in agreeing to exempt U.S. soldiers from the possibility of war crimes prosecution.

But Croatia's relations with Washington have since improved and are now are "excellent," according to Sanader.

This country's desire to be accepted as part of the mainstream Europe, implied ever since it declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, also was difficult when Western governments refuted its nationalist authoritarian president, Franjo Tudjman.

He died in 1999, and the election of a pro-Western government in 2000 marked a turning point. Sanader, who recently won a second term as prime minister, has made the nation's EU and NATO ties a top priority.

Croatia is currently negotiating with the EU and it could become the bloc's 28th nation by 2010. An expected invitation to join NATO during the Romania summit "can and will help" Croatia to accelerate its EU negotiations, Sanader said.

"Being a member of NATO means that you are a reliable partner and the EU countries will, of course, count on Croatia much more than before," he said. It also would represent a "confirmation that we are a matured country that has the same values, like freedom, rule of law, free market economy, human rights, as other countries."

NATO membership also could help bring stability in the troublesome Balkans, he said.

Croatia fought a war with its Serb minority, backed by Serbia, who opposed its independence, and the war only ended in 1995. Wars in Bosnia and Kosovo followed.

Croatia's arch rival, Serbia, is facing new elections on May 11, and nationalists could win, a potential for new tensions in the Balkans.

Sanader said he hopes pro-Western forces will prevail in the Serbian vote but that Croatia is "ready to cooperate" with whatever government is elected there for the sake of a stability in the region.

Whatever happens, he said, no development in Serbia can ever pose another threat to Croatia, Sanader said, adding: "That is the past."