Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic welcomed the appointment of the new government of Bosnia's Federation entity during the talks with the chairperson of the BiH Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo, and the president of the Croat People's Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HNS BiH), Dragan Covic.

On Monday afternoon, Plenkovic arrived in the southern city of Mostar for a two-day visit during which he will attend the opening of the International Business Fair on Tuesday.

At the end of last week, a new government of the Bosniak-Croat Federation entity was appointed, and it consists of the ministers from the parties gathered around the HNS – the umbrella political association of the Croat parties, and the group of Bosniak and civic parties led by the Social-Democratic Party of BiH.

This unblocked the election of the new entity government, which was contested by the largest Bosniak party – the SDA, whose representative in the Federation Presidency – VP Refik Lendo refused to give consent for the government's appointment. The process was eventually unblocked by the international peace envoy Christian Schmidt.

Prime Minister Plenkovic welcomed the formation of the entity government and expressed his full support for the activities of the Croatian National Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the HNS press release.

He said that it is necessary to urgently continue the talks on the electoral reform, in order to achieve the equality of all three constituent peoples.

According to Plenkovic, the issue of reforming the electoral system is an internal issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Croatian Prime Minister also announced Croatia's strong commitment to the opening of accession negotiations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union as soon as possible.

Covic and Kristo pointed out that it is important to carry out constitutional reforms in order for the country to fulfill one of the most important conditions for advancing towards the European Union. Covic thanked Plenkovic for his efforts in BiH obtaining the EU candidate status with in December last year at the session of the European Council.

Earlier on Monday, Plenkovic visited Mostar-Duvanj bishop Petar Palic and toured an exhibition of valuable art in the bishop's gallery, which was mostly financed by the Croatian government.

Later this evening, he was scheduled to take part in a dinner event attended by Miroslav Lajcak, the EU's special representative for the issues of the Western Balkans and the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

On Tuesday, the Croatian Prime Minister will be at the opening of the Mostar 2023 International Business Fair, with dozens of Croatian exhibitors expected to participate. This year's partner country of the fair is Israel.