Members of the Delegation of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives met with the members of the Delegation of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Croatian Parliament

Deputy Chair of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PA) Nermina Kapetanović and members of this Committee Mirsad Đonlagić, Senad Šepić and Sadik Ahmetović met today in Sarajevo with members of the Delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Croatian Parliament, headed by the president of the Committee, Miro Kovač.

During an open and cordial conversation, guests from Croatia stressed that a visit of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Croatian Parliament, taken at the invitation of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the PA BiH, is a confirmation of good neighbourly relations between the two countries, as well as Croatia's readiness to continue supporting the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Members of the Delegation of the Croatian Parliament’s Committee for Foreign Policy expressed the view that BiH, as a country economically and infrastructurally linked to Croatia as well as a country in which Croats have the status of a constituent people, is the most important neighbour of Croatia.They expressed the wish for BiH to continue to develop in the direction of the functional and legal state, which, they said, is one of the most important conditions for accession of our country to the European Union. In this regard, the question of amendments to the BiH Election Law was mentioned and pointed to a possible political crisis, which could break due to the failure to resolve this issue, and affect the process of implementing economic and social reforms in BiH.

While stressing that they appreciate support provided by Croatia to the process of European integration of BiH, members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives have emphasized that all open issues should be discussed within institutions and in the spirit of good neighbourly relations.In this respect, the issues related to the state border, in particular the sea border and the construction of the Pelješac Bridge are mentioned, as well as the issue of nuclear waste disposal in the border area with BiH. The Croatian side has also been asked to make extra efforts to relieve the border crossings, especially for people crossing the Croatian border on a daily basis. It was pointed out that this would send a positive message to the citizens and further relax the relations between the two countries.

The idea of the need to hold regional meetings of members of parliamentary committees/foreign affairs committees was presented at the meeting.

Members of the Delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Croatian Parliament invited the members of the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly in a return visit to the Croatian Parliament. (End)