SARAJEVO, May 7 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and the chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, have said that all contentious issues in bilateral relations have been solved and that an agreement on the
Croatian seaport of Ploce may be finally ratified by the end of this year.
SARAJEVO, May 7 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic and the
chairman of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, have said
that all contentious issues in bilateral relations have been solved
and that an agreement on the Croatian seaport of Ploce may be finally
ratified by the end of this year.#L#
Mesic and Tihic met on Friday on the margins of the European Youth
Peace Summit in Sarajevo. After their 30-minute meeting, the two
officials told reporters that they had discussed preparations for a
meeting of the Croatian-Bosnian Council for Cooperation, scheduled to
take place in Zagreb next month.
Tihic said that it was necessary to reach agreement on only two
bilateral agreements and that all other important issues had been
solved. After that the two countries will focus on long-term strategic
cooperation in the economic sector.
Mesic said the Cooperation Council today needed a different role than
the one it had when the body was set up given that the entire
situation in the region changed in the meantime.
"We are today sovereign countries oriented towards Europe and in this
sense we should organise our cooperation," Mesic said adding that
Croatia and Bosnia had the same strategic goals: admission to the
European Union and NATO.
Asked by reporters whether the solution of the problem of the status
of the seaport of Ploce was in the offing, Tihic said that he did not
think that there were any major problems with regard to this matter.
"Some details remain which we can solve through talks and agree on the
verification of that agreement with some alterations on which the
Croatian side insists, taking into account the interests of both
countries," Tihic said.
The ratification of the bilateral agreement on Ploce was halted last
year when the Office of Tihic (Bosnian Muslim side) insisted on a more
precise definition of an arbitration commission which would be
entrusted with the task of settling possible disputes in the
management of the port.
Zagreb insisted that no foreigner (international representative) be in
the commission as this would bring into question Croatia's sovereignty
on a part of its territory.
(Hina) ms