NEWS
Prime Minister Pahor meets Croatian colleague Jadranka Kosor in Lovran: economic cooperation between Slovenia and Croatia is an opportunity to boost economic growth
The Slovenian Prime Minister, Borut Pahor, and his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor today met in Lovran, Croatia. At their first meeting at the Trakošćan Castle last year, the two prime ministers agreed to establish a direct dialogue in order to help improve bilateral relations. Pursuant to this arrangement, Mr Pahor and Ms Kosor particularly focused on enhanced economic cooperation and joint action on third markets. They also agreed that the succession issue could perhaps be resolved in a package.
(Photo: Daniel Novakovič/SPA)
The two prime ministers agreed that a mixed commission will examine how to best organise joint appearance on third markets and prepare proposals for joint action on these markets within six months. "A new feature of today's meeting is certainly our focusing on economic cooperation," said Prime Minister Pahor and, to this effect, highlighted the aforementioned joint action on third markets "as an opportunity to boost economic growth" during the current economic crisis. He further explained that the agreement on joint action on relevant markets reached with Prime Minister Kosor is necessary because of the magnitude of business operations in question, which require an adequate capital potential.
(Photo: Daniel Novakovič/SPA)
The two countries will also jointly appear at Expo 2012 in South Korea. Regarding this undertaking, Prime Minister Pahor emphasised that this is not only a question of saving, but also "a symbolic gesture of friendship between the two nations, which strive for its further enhancement". The two prime ministers also agreed on the establishment of a commission to review the possibility of joint air-policing. As allies and NATO members, both countries could thus reduce costs and increase their safety and security, said Prime Minister Pahor. "Such a step, however, requires a careful, as well as ambitious approach, which would ultimately lead to an agreement", added Mr Pahor.
(Photo: Daniel Novakovič/SPA)
In his statement to the press following the meeting, Prime Minister Pahor recalled that on 31 July 2009, he and his Croatian counterpart agreed to resolve the border issue in the same year. This was followed by the signing of the Arbitration Agreement in Stockholm on 4 November 2009, which was in Slovenia further confirmed through a referendum. Mr Pahor went on to say that during his meeting with Ms Kosor in Bohinj, the two undertook to resolve the issue of the succession or the "banking issue" in 90 days. However, they managed to do this in 75 days and "today, we formulated a joint opinion that in view of all these events, we just might have opened a window giving us an opportunity to speed up the process and resolve the succession issue in a package, an issue, which has for many years been burdening the successor States", said Prime Minister Pahor.
The Croatian Prime Minister highlighted the quality, content and friendly atmosphere of today's meeting. She further said that the Slovenian Prime Minister had reiterated Slovenia's firm support to Croatia in its efforts to conclude negotiations with the EU. According to Ms Kosor, Croatia expects to close three negotiating chapters at the Intergovernmental Conference on 5 November: "I am convinced that, also thanks to this (Slovenian) support, it will not take long before we have completed this undertaking", said the Croatian Prime Minister.
Mr Pahor and Ms Kosor also addressed the situation in the Western Balkans and highlighted the importance of the Brdo Process for the stability and the strengthening of economic cooperation in the region. Moreover, Prime Minister Pahor announced that "there are signals that Serbia will also formally join the Brdo Process at the next meeting of the ministers of justice". Mr Pahor described the Brdo Process as one of the most significant regional initiatives in Europe and emphasised that at a recent meeting following his Balkan tour, Mr Van Rompuy told him that through their mutual agreements and the Brdo Process initiative, Slovenia and Croatia "had done a great deal for the security and stability, as well as for people's hope in this region". "We are experiencing the deepest crisis after World War Two. Today, people are much more sensitive to injustice than ever before; we are witnessing things, to which we cannot be indifferent", said Prime Minister Pahor and added that we can be proud of being neighbours. It is true that one cannot choose neighbours. But what we can choose is our determination to be good neighbours.