"Our position is that we shall not begin building the bridge before we reach agreement on the matter with our Bosnian friends," Kalmeta told reporters in Sarajevo where he arrived for talks on refugee return with officials from Bosnia and Serbia-Montenegro.
However, the topic of Croatia's plans to build a bridge connecting the southernmost part of the country with the mainland grabbed the attention of reporters who asked Kalmeta to give more details regarding the bridge that is expected to be built off Neum, a town on Bosnia's coastline stretch.
The Croatian minister said that experts from the two countries were now discussing the matter with the aim of reaching agreement on the height of the bridge so that it would not obstruct Bosnia's access to the high seas.
If we fail to reach agreement, we shall probably seek other solutions, again in consultations with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kalmeta said.
He said that another alternative solution was a tunnel.
"There are various technical solutions. We are considering all of them, and we think that the agreement on the height of the bridge should be satisfactory both to Croatia and Bosnia," Kalmeta added.