Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Monday received vice-presidents of the Bosnian parliament's upper house, Bakir Izetbegovic of the Bosniak SDA party and Dragan Covic of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH).
During the talks held in Zagreb as part of regular dialogue between the Croatian premier and political representatives of the three constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Plenkovic underscored that it was essential to enable all the three constituent peoples to exercise their equal rights and enjoy their legitimate representativeness in Bosnia and Herzegovina's institutions.
The interlocutors welcomed the signing of the agreement on amending the election legislation and on holding local elections in the southern city of Mostar, which paved the way for the further normalisation and better arrangement of the relations between the Bosniak and the Croat peoples, according to a press release issued by the Croatian government.
Plenkovic underscored Croatia's strong support to Bosnia and Herzegovina's European journey.
Croatia finds the prosperity, stability and security of this neighbouring country to be of utmost importance.
He recalled that by organising the Zagreb Summit in May 2020, which focused on the enlargement of the EU and the prospects of southeastern European countries concerning their membership bid, Croatia reaffirmed its readiness to help Bosnia and Herzegovina to implement reforms and fulfil the criteria to be granted the status of EU candidate-country.
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of the Dayton-Paris peace accords, the meeting was also seen as an opportunity to sum up the achievements of that peace deal and to consider the removal of the obstacles on Bosnia and Herzegovina's path towards the EU.
The talks revolved around the bilateral economic relations, investments, cross-border projects and the situation in the neighbourhood.
Earlier on Monday, Plenkovic announced that “with today's visit we are continuing dialogue on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the status of Croats, certain legislative solutions, equality and here, I primarily think of the election law.” Plenkovic referred to the amending of the election law which has allegedly enabled Bosniak voters to be a decisive factor in electing Zeljko Komsic as the representative of the Croat people in the tripartite Presidency for the third time.
Two weeks ago Plenkovic received the Serb member of the tripartite Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, Milorad Dodik.
