ZAGREB, Dec 17 (Hina) - Croatia wishes to nurture good neighbourly and friendly relations with Bosnia as a state and move away from cooperation with Bosnia's two entities, to which end it has been agreed the two countries'
parliamentary delegations will meet four times a year at top level, a Croatian official said.
ZAGREB, Dec 17 (Hina) - Croatia wishes to nurture good neighbourly
and friendly relations with Bosnia as a state and move away from
cooperation with Bosnia's two entities, to which end it has been
agreed the two countries' parliamentary delegations will meet four
times a year at top level, a Croatian official said.#L#
Croatian parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic on Monday received a
delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's bicameral parliament, which
was headed by House of Representatives chairman Zeljko Mirjanic and
House of Nations chairman Sejfudin Tokic. The delegation is on a
one-day return visit to Croatia.
"The Republic of Croatia wishes to develop good neighbourly and
friendly relations with BH as a state, moving away from cooperation
with the entities, as we are interested in creating an atmosphere
which will favour further steps towards rapprochement with the EU
and other institutions," Tomcic told reporters after the talks.
Frequent contacts will enable Croatia to more easily meet its
constitutional and Dayton peace agreement commitments towards
Bosnian Croats, he said.
Tomcic welcomed the fact that today both sides applauded an
agreement on refugee returns the two countries' government signed
on Dec. 11.
Asked if he told the Bosnian delegation that Croatia had accepted an
initiative to first ratify and subsequently discuss changes to an
agreement on the southern Croatian seaport of Ploce, Tomcic said
this was one possible solution. Another one, which he described as
good, would have the two governments first state the contentious
parts of the agreement, and then the Croatian parliament would
ratify the agreement and an annexe.
Mirjanic welcomed the agreement on holding parliamentary
delegation meetings every three months. He said refugee returns
were a crucial issue in the two countries' relations, and
emphasised Bosnia supported refugee returns throughout the region
under the same conditions.
According to Tokic, the cooperation of Croatia and Bosnia as two
sovereign states was initiated at a November meeting in Sarajevo as
both sides wish to have relations "without special ties implied by
the Dayton and Washington agreements."
Tokic said the Bosnian authorities were responsible for fully
implementing a Constitutional Court decision stipulating that
Bosnia's three peoples, Croats, Muslims, and Serbs, are
constituent throughout the country's territory.
As for the Ploce agreement, he said Bosnia had understanding for
possible changes but would like Croatia to ratify it as soon as
possible to expedite its enforcement.
(hina) ha sb