Dragan Covic, the Croat member of the Bosnian presidency who coordinated the Neum meeting, told reporters that the only remaining condition for admission to the Partnership for Peace programme was full cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, which includes the arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic and their transfer to The Hague.
At their first joint meeting, leaders of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Serb Democratic Party, the Democratic Progress Party and the Democratic Action Party agreed to assume full responsibility for ensuring the functioning of all levels of authority in the country.
Covic said it was agreed that Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic, who heads the Democratic Progress Party, would continue his ministerial duties.
Ivanic tendered his resignation late last year after the United States told his party's leaders that they were banned entry into the US for their lack of cooperation with the Hague tribunal.
Covic said that the meeting in Neum had been organised on the recommendation of Brussels and that similar meetings would be held in the future. The next meeting was scheduled for March 22 and 23 and would be organised by the Serb Democratic Party.
The fifth governing party, the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina, cancelled its participation in the Neum meeting, saying that discussions on the functioning of government in the country should be organised in Parliament.