Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said during a visit to Orasje, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday that a politically functional Bosnia and Herzegovina was in Croatia's interest, calling on the country's politicians to address all the issues through dialogue.

Speaking at a press conference after a joint session of his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party and the Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HNS BiH), Plenković expressed satisfaction with the political unity of the Croatian parties gathered within the HNS BiH, saying that this had facilitated the formation of the new government in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We see that in the past few months the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina has shown functionality, a reform character and a huge international effort. This is a new, positive wind,” the Croatian PM said.

He said that now that Croatia has completed all its national tasks and has a respectable reputation in the international community, it can help Bosnia and Herzegovina as a neighbouring and partner country even more while taking care of the Croats as a constituent people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Commenting on the current political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Plenkovic said that Croatia wants to see a functioning and integral Bosnia and Herzegovina in which representatives of the political parties that have won the trust of voters work for the benefit of the country. “All the moves going in the opposite direction are not good and are not welcome,” he said, calling on the country's politicians to sit together at the table and discuss the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Plenkovic said it would be good if the parties of the ruling coalition returned to addressing the issues of the election system and constitutional reform.

Dragan Covic, the President of the HNS – the association gathering Croat political parties in BiH, thanked Plenkovic for his contribution to Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU path and expressed hope for many new projects with Croatia's assistance.

Covic said that the unity promoted by the HNS BiH gives him the right to say that this organisation is the key stabilising factor in all relations within Bosnia and Herzegovina.