Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said on Monday, ahead of an official visit to Croatia, that he will insist on improving relations with the states in the region and seek ways to resolve outstanding issues. Pročitaj više

Konakovic is due in Zagreb later today on his first official visit since being appointed minister. On Tuesday, he is due to meet with Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and President Zoran Milanovic.

Speaking to the press in Sarajevo, he said “Trgovska Gora, Busko Lake, succession” would be first on the agenda and discussed openly. He added that border demarcation with Croatia and Serbia should also be solved so that infrastructure projects, such as gas pipelines, could be launched.

The most important task is improving relations between the region's states, he said, which was addressed at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend.

Konakovic said he realised in Munich that BiH “is coming into the focus of all who are important on the international stage,” and that he was assured that there would be no political bargaining in the Balkans and linking the situation in BiH to the solving of Serbia-Kosovo relations.

Konakovic said he returned from Munich with much more European integration optimism, although the strengthening of this process, he added, is a direct result of Russia's war against Ukraine.

BiH must use the present moment because this is a crossroads from which one must not make a detour as used to be the case, he said.

Russia's influence in BiH is noticeable because in recent years it “worked much more” than the EU and the United States, which observed processes, he added.

Upon returning from Munich, Konakovic said, he was met by a “pro-Russian offensive” in BiH from those who do not like the new authorities. He was alluding to statements from Bosnian Serb politicians who, he said, are “making a big mistake”, and from the Bosniak SDA party.

Konakovic's party is a member of a coalition which established a government at the state level and is trying to do the same in the Bosniak-Croat Federation (FBiH) entity, where it is being obstructed by the SDA.

He said they would clearly show the SDA that there was a parliamentary majority from which it was excluded. “The message that they (SDA) are willing to look for a partner in Russia shows what state the SDA is in.”