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ZAGREB — Serbian President Boris Tadic arrived in Croatia on Wednesday for talks with his Croat counterpart Ivo Josipovic in their first meeting since the latter took office in February, national radio reported.
“The two presidents will discuss improving Serbo-Croatian bilateral ties,” the Serbian presidency said earlier in a statement.
Upon his arrival at the airport on the northern island of Krk, Tadic headed for the nearby coastal town of Opatija, where informal discussions were to take place, according to the radio.
Relations between the neighbouring countries have remained sensitive since Croatia’s 1991-1995 independence war from the former Yugoslavia during which Belgrade backed rebel Serbs, with allegations of war crimes on both sides.
Josipovic told AFP early this month that one of the most important objectives of his presidential programme was to improve relations between Croatia and Serbia.
Tadic boycotted Josipovic’s February 18 inauguration because of the presence of the president of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu.
Serbia rejects Kosovo’s unilaterally proclaimed independence in 2008 and considers the breakaway territory its southern province.
Croatia however recognises Kosovo’s independence, adding to strains with Serbia.
Josipovic and Tadic were to meet only a few days after the Serb leader decided not to attend an EU-Balkans summit, conceived by Slovenia and Croatia whose independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 ushered in a decade of regional bloodshed.
The summit, held in Slovenia on Saturday, had been planned as a first meeting of all the region’s political leaders in two decades, but Tadic cancelled over Kosovo’s representation as an independent state.
Wednesday’s meeting in Opatija was organised at the initiative of both sides because the presidents want to initiate a dialogue on outstanding issues in bilateral ties, according to sources in the Croatian presidency, quoted by the state-run HINA news agency.
It said the meeting was of an informal nature since conditions for a more formal one had not been met.
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