Drnovsek and Mesic Discuss Bilateral Issues
Slovenia would like to see a stable Croatia within the EU so that bilateral trade could improve even further. This is what the Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek and his Croatian counterpart Stipe Mesic said to the press as they held an informal meeting at Bizeljsko on Thursday.
The two presidents met after the EU last week postponed accession talks with Croatia, which is why special attention was paid to the subject at the talks, the pair said.
Mesic thanked Drnovsek for Slovenia's support for Croatia's EU entry, which he believes will benefit both countries, particularly in the economy.
The pair underscored the importance of the bilateral business cooperation, stressing that it was behind many jobs in both countries.
Drnovsek said that the informal meeting was aimed at tackling open bilateral issues. Here, Slovenia is very much interested in Croatia starting EU accession talks, he said.
Mesic invited Drnovsek to visit Croatia for a continuation of talks on bilateral issues.
Speaking about a surge in cooperation between the Slovenian and Croatian governments, Drnovsek said conditions were being created for rational dialogue on open issues.
According to him, this bolstered dialogue should focus on possible tweaks to already agreed solutions.
The Slovenian president said the important thing now is for the two countries to hammer out an agreement on the avoidance of incidents.
His comments came just as reports surfaced of an incident in a disputed stretch of sea in the Bay of Piran on Wednesday.
The latest incident matches the usual pattern of border incidents in the bay: while Slovenian police claim a Croatian police boat entered Slovenian-controlled waters on Wednesday, Croatian police claim that it was the other way around.
Such incidents are common given that the border has not been agreed upon in this area and that the two countries have different views on where the line of control is situated.
Also discussed was a planned meeting of the two presidents and Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to discuss the resolution of open questions from the end of WWII.
Drnovsek and Mesic - who met for the first time since Mesic was elected for a second term earlier this year - said that preparations were underway for this three-way reconciliatory meeting. However, they stressed the need for the appropriate political atmosphere.
Mesic said preparations for the meeting could take some time because of the complex and sensitive historical issues involved.
More articles from this issue:
Archive
|