The path towards European Union membership the common interest that connects Bosnia and Serbia, the Speaker of Bosnia’s House of Representatives, Nebojsa Radmanovic, and Serbia’s National Assembly President, Ivica Dacic, said on Monday following their meeting in Belgrade.

Radmanovic visited the Serbian Parliament to discuss various topics with Dacic and both of them stressed the importance of maintaining good relations between the two countries.

“It's very important that we maintain good relations in the region, everyone is aware of that, but we don’t always behave that way. Parliaments are those who can contribute the most to good cooperation between neighbours even when something is not working well on other levels,” Radmanovic said.

He said that the need for a border agreement between Bosnia and Serbia was among the topics discussed.

“Bosnia and Serbia have a very long border and no agreement on the border has yet been signed, but it’s only a matter of time before it will have to be signed. Work has been done on this issue, but the job is not finished by far,” Radmanovic said, stressing that this is an important issue which has to be discussed in both parliaments.

He called the relations between Bosnia and Serbia “very complex,” arguing that this is due to the complex relations within Bosnia itself.

But the thing that connects the two countries is their path towards the European Union, he noted.

“We are bound by a common path towards the EU, which Serbia has made significant progress on while Bosnia is not even a candidate yet and expects to become a candidate every year. We think that we can make new steps forward in this regard in the future,” he said.

Dacic said that meetings between the parliaments of the two countries should be regular practice suggested that they should take place every year.

He said that developing and improving good neighbourly relations with Bosnia is his country’s “vital interest” and that he hopes Bosnia perceives it the same way.

It is important that “regardless of our disagreements on certain issues from the past, we are prepared to turn to the future and to seek joint interests and work for better cooperation between the peoples and states,” Dacic said.

Dacic stressed that Serbia respects the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and believes that any changes in the country should be the result of an agreement between the three constituent peoples and the two semi-autonomous entities in Bosnia.