Serbia, Croatia seek closer cooperation to resolve open issues

Serbian President Boris Tadic(R) and his Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic pass by the honor guards in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, July 18, 2010. Josipovic is on a two day official visit to the Serbia. (Xinhua)(Serbia Out)

Visiting Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic called on Sunday for improved cooperation between the two former Yugoslav republics to resolve outstanding issues between them, the most controversial issue being the countersuits of genocide between Serbia and Croatia filed before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

On his first day of a two-day official visit to neighboring Serbia, Josipovic made a symbolic gesture of planting a tree in Belgrade's Friendship Park, reported Radio Television Serbia (RTS) .

Other open issues between the two countries were the return of refugees and the protection of their property and tenancy rights, protection of Serbian language and alphabet in Croatia, and border demarcation, said Tadic.

Josipovic said Croatia was seeking the handover of Serbian documents pertaining to events surrounding the Vukovar hospital during the war, where it is alleged that Serb militias executed 260 men.

"Serbia wants the best relations with Croatia in the fields of culture, economy, security, and to become EU members together," said Tadic."Croatia will of course become an EU member before Serbia and Serbia welcomes its speedy membership."

Josipovic, likewise, congratulated Serbia on its path toward EU integration.

On the imminent opinion of the ICJ on the legality of the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, Josipovic said it was premature to discuss whether Croatia would support Serbia in its UN request to open negotiations on Kosovo.

"Prior to the consideration of possible decisions in the UN we have to wait and see what the advisory opinion of the ICJ will be and see what will be Serbia's request,"said Josipovic, adding that Croatia had already recognized the independence of Kosovo.

"We believe that Serbia and Kosovo can and should, together with the international community, find appropriate solutions that Croatia has no ambition to mediate," said the Croatian president.

"I expect countries in the region to take into consideration the eventual opinion of the ICJ and the Serbian resolution which expresses that through peaceful compromise a viable solution can be found,"Tadic said, adding that this approach was the key to long-term stability and security in the region.

The two leaders later attended the 20th anniversary of the founding of the only Croatian political party in Serbia, the Democratic Union of Croats in Vojvodina (DSHV) in the town of Subotica, on the Hungarian border.


【1】 【2】