Nikšić for NAP: Sit down with Croatia urgently to resolve the issue of the Pelješac Bridge, borders, and property

The construction of the Pelješac Bridge is just one of the open issues between the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina that needs to be urgently resolved, said the president of SDP BiH Nermin Nikšić in a statement to the Patria agency, commenting on the announcements from the Croatian government that this country will continue the construction of the Pelješac Bridge regardless of objections from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Nikšić called on BiH authorities to immediately sit down with their colleagues from Croatia and resolve as soon as possible the issue of the maritime border between the two countries, the issue of BiH property in Croatia, the issue of the use of BiH's natural resources by the neighboring country, and many other issues burdening the two states.

- The authorities of BiH, and above all the SDA which has been the backbone of those authorities for years, are doing nothing to at least start resolving some of these issues. Besides the undefined state border, the very important issue of the status or return of the vast property of BiH located in Croatia has never been resolved.

Therefore, the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Presidency of BiH have missed many opportunities to initiate the necessary procedures to start resolving these issues. I call on them to finally do so - said the leader of the largest opposition party in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- The Pelješac Bridge, the issue of the border and property, the use of BiH's natural resources, all of this should be put on the table and openly resolved - added Nikšić.

The Croatian government claims that it will not abandon the construction of the Pelješac Bridge, which would connect the Dubrovnik-Neretva County by land with the rest of Croatia, regardless of warnings that the bridge would block Bosnia and Herzegovina's access to the open sea, and that Croatia would thereby violate Articles 7 and 10 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

A group of BiH parliamentarians announced that they will send a protest letter to all significant international institutions that can influence Croatia to abandon what they called the construction of an illegal bridge that would turn Bosnia and Herzegovina from a maritime into a landlocked country.