Asked by the Belgrade-based "Vecernje Novosti" daily on Saturday whether Croatia would hinder Serbia from proceedings on the path towards the EU, Croatia's foreign minister ruled out any such possibility.
I do not believe that Croatia's importance would diminish with Serbia's admission to the EU, it (Serbia's admission) is Croatia's security interest, too, Pusic said explaining that EU aspirants in Croatia's neighborhood need to make headway according to EU standards.
This will mean that Croatia will get secure and stable countries along its borders, which is why we will assist Serbia on its path towards Europe, Pusic said and added that the Croatia-Serbia relations were "good and fair".
The Serbian minister in charge of European integration, Jadranka Joksimovic, said on Friday that on its path towards membership of the European Union Serbia would encounter "occasional obstacles" from Croatia, but that Croatia would not block Serbia.
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic will visit Croatia next Wednesday, and his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic was quoted by the Serbian media as saying that they would discuss the issue of people who went missing in the 1991-1995 war and whose fate has not yet been clarified.
All missing people, including ethnic Croats and ethnic Serbs from Croatia are our responsibility and it os our duty to clarify their destiny, she said.
Serbian Minister Dacic will visit Zagreb on March 11 for talks on outstanding issues in relations between Croatia and Serbia and the two countries' future cooperation. Dacic was to have paid a reciprocal visit to Zagreb last November, but it was postponed because the Croatian authorities resented the Serbian authorities' failure to distance themselves from war-mongering statements made by Hague tribunal war crimes indictee Vojislav Seselj after he was temporarily released on account of poor health and returned to Serbia.
Dacic has recently told a news conference that he would travel to Zagreb at the invitation of his Croatian counterpart Pusic "so that we can make progress in building the best possible relations."
The issue of persons gone missing in the 1990s war is the main outstanding issue in relations between the two countries, and also important is the prosecution of war criminals, to which the International Court of Justice in The Hague recently called both countries, rejecting their mutual genocide lawsuits.
The relations between the two countries have been strained lately also because of Serbia's law on universal jurisdiction over trials for war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. Zagreb wants the Serbian authorities to revoke the said law.
Croatia has been an EU member since 1 July 2013 and Serbia hopes to open the first negotiating chapters in its EU entry talks by the end of the year.
The border between the two countries on the Danube River has not been defined, and Zagreb also wants greater rights for the Croat minority in Serbia, notably its northern province of Vojvodina.
Dacic's visit to Zagreb was announced last month by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic who visited Zagreb to attend the inauguration of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.
Grabar-Kitarovic said in a recent interview that she was encouraged by Vucic's visit.
"We will offer Serbia all the possible support on its path to EU membership, but will also insist that it meets all membership criteria, including the status of ethnic minorities," she said.