"Following frequent incidents in Savudrija Bay, caused by the Slovene police that disrupted economic activities of Croatian fishermen, the co-chairpersons of the permanent bilateral commission met in Otocac, Slovenia, for talks... as well as the heads of the fisheries sub-commission," the press release read.
The goal of the meeting was to try harmonise a new solution for economic fishing in that part of the border area, after the previous provisional regime (for fisheries) ceases to be valid on 30 April 2004, the Croatian ministry said.
The meeting revolved around several possibilities including "the renewal of the provisional regime, its possible correction and introduction of new elements so as to ensure good neighbourly relations and unhampered fishing activities for fishermen from both sides of the border".
The talks in the permanent commission should soon resume in order to harmonise a proposal which would be after that forwarded to the governments of Croatia and Slovenia for further procedure.
The ministry in Zagreb stated that "the Slovene side has announced a diplomatic note which will be direct response to the Croatian protest note of 3 August 2004, as continuation to yesterday's Slovene note pertaining to the same matter and particularly to today's meeting of the commission co-chairpersons".
The Slovene Foreign Ministry issued a press release after the Otocac meeting saying that "despite previous draft agreement, which was confirmed in writing, the Croatian side proposed at the meeting new models for the implementation of code of conduct of fishermen in Piran Bay, which were unacceptable for the Slovene side in the form in which they were proposed".
The Slovene ministry went on to say that "good neighbourly relations can be built only with avoidance of incidents and avoidance of creating new facts that depart from the reached agreements and cause nervousness".
The press release from Ljubljana reads that the Slovene Foreign Ministry on Friday afternoon handed over two protest notes to the charge d'affaires of the Croatian embassy in the Slovene capital. Responding to Croatia's note of 3 August, the Slovene ministry said that the incidents which the Croatian side mentioned in its note "took place in the Slovene territorial waters, and Slovenia protests against Croatian police officers carrying out jurisdiction at the territory of Slovenia", read the press release issued by the Slovene ministry.
According to that press release, the Slovene ministry also protests against the usage of the name 'Savudrijska Vala (Savudrija Bay)' as the internationally recognised historical name for the area, Ljubljana said, is 'Piranski Zaljev (Piran Bay)'.
The second protest note from Ljubljana refers to Slovenia's protest against attempts of "Croatian police to carry out jurisdiction in the Slovene territorial waters" and against fishing by Croatian fishermen in the Slovene territorial waters, which happened, the press release read, at the end of the last week and earlier this week.