Kovač: Opening the border issue between BiH and Croatia is unnecessarily opening Pandora's box

SARAJevo, (Patria) - Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH) Borjana Krišto, Speaker of the House of Peoples of PSBiH Ognjen Tadić and their deputies Šefik Džaferović and Bariša Čolak spoke today with members of the Delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Croatian Parliament, who are on a two-day visit to BiH at the invitation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of PSBiH.

During the discussion, in which the president of the Club of the Serb Democratic Party in the House of Representatives of PSBiH Aleksandra Pandurević also participated, the state of bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as issues of regional cooperation and Croatia's support on BiH's European path, were discussed.

Head of the Delegation of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Croatian Parliament Miro Kovač, speaking about the border between BiH and Croatia, said that the border is defined by the agreement signed by the then presidents of the two states, Alija Izetbegović and Franjo Tuđman, that this agreement is being implemented today, and that "there is no need to open Pandora's box."

Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the State Border Agreement in 1999, which the states have not ratified, and which has been provisionally applied since the date of signing. This was the first border agreement between states formed after the breakup of former Yugoslavia.

The border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina extends for about a thousand kilometers, with about five percent of the border line being disputed, and one part also relates to the maritime border, i.e., the demarcation near the Neum Bay.

The issue of whether the border has been correctly established in all places remains open between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During today's meeting, the need to adopt amendments to the Election Law of BiH was also discussed, ahead of the general elections to be held in October this year.