Croatia's head of state gave an interview with the Mostar-based Dnevni List daily in which he commented on the Bosnian government's plans to build a seaport in its only coastal town of Neum and the Croatian government's ideas about building a bridge connecting the peninsula of Peljesac with the mainland.
"The construction of any port, including a Neum Port, has, first of all, to be cost-effective. The capacities of (southern Croatian) Port of Ploce have not yet been used, and that port was primarily built for the needs of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Mesic said in the interview published on Thursday.
Responding to Bosnians' objections to Zagreb's plan to build the Peljesac bridge off Neum, the Bosnian stretch of the coast, so as to connect the southernmost part of Croatia with the rest of the country, Mesic said that for him one of prudent proposals was a possibility to build a tunnel or a highway through (Croat-populated) Herzegovina, instead of the bridge.
Mesic believes that this would be more cost-effective and this solution would also connect the southernmost Croatia with the rest of the country.
He said that he had called on relevant institutions in Croatia to help local media in Bosnia in the Croatian language.
"Being one of the three constituent peoples in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croats are entitled to their language and culture, and having media in one's mother tongue is a way to preserve one's own language. That's why it is important that there are media in the Croatian language (in Bosnia)," Mesic said.