Amid tensions, Serbian President is getting ready to travel to Zagreb.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić will soon receive an invitation from Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović to officially visit Zagreb by the end of the year, according to reports in the Serbian media on Wednesday, citing unnamed Croatian diplomatic sources, reports Večernji List on August 30, 2017.
“It is expected that the visit will open a new phase in relations between the two countries, and soon there will also be a meeting between the two prime ministers – Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and her Croatian colleague Andrej Plenković,” according to Večernje Novosti daily.
“It would be excellent if the presidents of the two countries, but also the prime ministers, would meet regularly at least once a year. Now is the moment for the new beginning of the relationship and the Croatian leadership is in this sense awaiting the Vučić’s arrival in Zagreb,” wrote Večernje Novosti, describing the source as “a prominent Croatian diplomat.”
The Croatian expectations from the meeting between Vučić and Grabar-Kitarović are extremely high and the visit is already being described as a possible breakthrough in normalization of relations and solving the existing issues and misunderstandings, writes the daily, adding that the “two presidential offices are in constant contact to arrange the details of the talks which will take place in Zagreb.”
“The discussions will cover all the topics which burden with relations, from those of the past, such as the issue of the missing persons from the Homeland War and the return of cultural heritage, to border issues and economic cooperation,” writes Večernje Novosti.
Vučić’s visit to Zagreb was indirectly announced during the farewell visit of Croatian Ambassador to Belgrade Gordan Markotić to Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić.
According to a statement from Prime Minister Brnabić’s office, Ambassador Markotić said that “relations between the two states are on the upward path” and that “bilateral ties will benefit from the upcoming visit of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to Zagreb, as well as the visit of the Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs to Serbia.”
Translated from Večernji List.
