"I absolutely support Croatia's admission to the EU as soon as possible and I today would like to remove all rumours and speculations that it is in Serbia's interest to halt the integration of Croatia... It is Serbia's vital and national interest to see Croatia enter the EU as soon as possible," Tadic said after his talks with Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor in Zagreb during his two-day official visit to Croatia.
PM Kosor said Croatia strongly supported Serbia's European path, adding that it was of great importance for the stability of the region and for the prosperity of their two countries.
Croatia, whose accession negotiations are nearing completion, will keep supporting European path of Serbia and of the entire southeast of Europe, Kosor said.
Addressing the press, Tadic said Serbia and Croatia still had some outstanding issues such as border demarcation, succession to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and genocide lawsuits before the International Court of Justice.
"All of this burden our relations... our two commissions will continue working on the settlement of those issues," the Serbian president said.
The two countries will naturally take into account their own national interests but they also must seek opportunities to find joint solutions, he added.
The issues of people who went missing in the war and of refugees and returnees were also on the agenda of the Kosor-Tadic talks. This issue was also discussed at the talks Tadic held with his host, Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, earlier in the day.
Kosor said that during the talks political agreement was reached on principles which should serve as pillars for the lasting solution of problems which the returnees faced.
In this context she announced an international conference for raising funds for this purpose.
The two officials also pointed out to the need to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation.
Kosor said that from January to October this year, Croatia's exports to Serbia totalled EUR 243 million, and direct Croatian investments amounted to EUR 420 million.
She said that the good economic cooperation also reflected in the Cargo 10 project aimed at enhancing cooperation between Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian railway operators on the pan-European 10 corridor.
Tadic proposed that the two countries could assess possibilities for their joint ventures on third markets, adding that this topic would be on the agenda of tomorrow's meeting of the two countries' business delegations in Zagreb.
Kosor said that the two countries would continue "giving support to the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina" and to its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
She spoke about a possibility for her, Tadic and Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor to hold a trilateral meeting in Serbia soon.
As regards the complex history in the 1990s in Croatia and in Serbia, Tadic expressed satisfaction with the way in which Croatia was solving the issue of returnees.
He said it was very important that Croatia had delivered to Serbia a list of people under investigation for war crimes as well as a list of war crimes convicts.
"Croatian citizens of Serb ethnicity living in refugee camps in Serbia can check their status in the Serbian Justice Ministry. This facilitates the situation and conditions for the return," he said.
The two officials agreed that the status of minorities should be permanently enhanced.
They also agreed that great progress had been made in the Croatian-Serbian relations.