Mesic: Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia keep returning to the past

Speaking to N1 he said: “This forum is well conceived and well managed and I believe that it will influence the development of Bosnia, but also the entire region even more, in time to come. We are all focused on joining the EU. That is good, but we must not only be tied to the EU.”

According to him, the world is integrated and one cannot be outside of it.

“It’snot a good idea to distance ourselves from some parts of Europe that are not members of the EU. I’m thinking of Turkey, primarily. They must find their place in the EU. Russia is a great force, a European country, they mustn’t be excluded from the EU integration," Mesic said.

He added that Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia keep returning to the past too often.

"We are unable to end the wars that have long been over. All the wars ended with peace, and we have to realize that the wars have ended, that the borders have not changed, that there are certain issues that need to be solved, but this should not burden the states and peoples. Borders must not separate people," said the former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic during his visit to the special program at N1, the regional media sponsor of the Sarajevo Business Forum.

The ninth Sarajevo International Business Forum (SBF), which hosts a large number of officials and business people from the region and the world, commenced today in Sarajevo, giving them an opportunity to get acquainted with the business and investment opportunities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the countries of the region.

The leading business and investment conference in South East Europe is organized by the Bosnian Bank International (BBI) in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) under the auspices of the Bosnian Presidency.