Eurasia Press & News
Serbian President Boris Tadic is set to meet with Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and her Slovenian counterpart, Borut Pahor in the town of Ptuj in Slovenia on Friday.
According to the Slovenian press agency STA, the top officials are set to discuss a conference on the EU integration of the Western Balkans which is scheduled to be held in Brdo near Kranj in Slovenia on March 20.
Earlier in February, Pahor and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton agreed that an international conference on the Western Balkans, with the goal of resolving some of the open issues in the region, should be held.
The conference, which has been named “Together for the European Union: Contribution of the Western Balkans to the European Future”, would be the first meeting of all the political leaders in the region in 18 years.
Friday’s gathering of the leaders of the two countries comes after Serbian and Croatian parliamentary speakers met earlier this week and expressed their desire to develop good neighbourly relations.
Relations between Serbia and Croatia have been tense lately, particularly following Serbia’s decision on January 4, 2010, to file a genocide countersuit against Croatia at the International Court of Justice in response to Croatia’s suit against Serbia, filed in 1999.
The cabinet of the Slovenian PM reportedly said that special attention at Friday’s meeting will be paid to improving economic cooperation between the three countries and exchanging views on measures to speed the region’s emergence from the economic crisis.
