ZAGREB – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the agreed meeting with his Slovenian counterpart, Miro Cerar, in September in Zagreb, will remain for him after the preparatory meeting at the service level.
Plenković, after meeting with ambassadors, consuls and chiefs of affairs of Croatian embassies in the world, told reporters that Slovenia is a neighboring, friendly country with which Zagreb wants open relations, increased trade exchange and participation in various joint international efforts.
The open issues of the two countries, he says, will be resolved peacefully and through dialogue.
“When a preparatory meeting is held at the service level, we will arrange a precise term and I expect it here in a friendly tone and spirit, how we communicate, and we also hear the telephone and see it regularly, to continue to discuss the open border issue, as one of our open questions, “Plenković said.
Good neighborly relations between Croatia and Slovenia were put into question after the arbitral tribunal’s ruling on a border dispute in the Piran Bay, with which Slovenia received 3/4 of this bay.
Croatia, however, does not accept the decision of the Court, referring to the unanimous position of Zagreb to quit the arbitration due to the compromise of what Slovenia is responsible for, while Ljubljana intends to apply an arbitration decision.
Asked if there were any suggestions in the talks with diplomats that Croatia would accept an arbitration decision, Plenković replied that Croatian diplomats were not so autonomous.
“They are here to share with us the perception of Croatian foreign policy and Croatian attitudes in international relations, as it is contextualized by another, and therefore serve such meetings to clarify certain understandings among ourselves, but never, no one, or they, or us, wouldnt even fall into the trap that state policy is created by someone who is there to implement it, ” said Plenković.