"It is time to renew the talks," Vajgl said after a brief meeting with Zuzul at St. Gerlach Castle in Valkenburg near Maastricht, where EU foreign ministers gathered for an informal meeting.
This is the first time Croatia's foreign minister attended an EU ministerial meeting after Croatia was granted candidate status.
The Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone goes into force on 3 October, and it will not apply to EU member-countries. Slovene authorities are worried about how Slovene ships sailing under the flags of countries outside the EU will be treated.
"Both sides are interested in protecting the Adriatic and the fishing stock, which is why we have agreed to study possible implications for Slovene interests so as to avoid possible negative consequences, particularly incidents with Slovene ships sailing towards the port of Koper being intercepted," Vajgl said without explicitly mentioning ships sailing under foreign flags.
The Slovene minister said he would meet Zuzul again at this month's UN General Assembly session in New York, where the countries' prime ministers, Ivo Sanader and Anton Rop, could meet as well.