President Mesic's First Official Visit to Serbia and Montenegro

Belgrade, September 10 – Croatian President Stjepan Mesic arrived to Belgrade in his first official visit to Serbia and Montenegro. President Mesic is the first Croatian President to visit this country since Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Mesic’s visit to Serbia and Montenegro is expected to foster an improved atmosphere for resolutions of unsolved questions in relations between the two countries.

During his visit, Mesic met with President of Serbia-Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic.

At the meeting, the two presidents spoke about the liberalization of the visa regime, unresolved issues regarding the country borders, succession to the former Yugoslavia, economic cooperation, return of Croatian Serb refugees who fled to Serbia, as well as countries acceptances to the European Union.

“As a president of Serbia-Montenegro, I want to apologize for all the evils any citizen of Serbia and Montenegro caused to anyone in Croatia”, said President of Serbia and Montenegro Marovic at the press conference.

President Mesic accepted this symbolic apology and added, “On my part, I would like to offer an apology to anyone to whom citizens of Croatia, at any time, caused pain or damage acting contrary to the law and abusing their position.”

It is expected that these symbolic gestures will contribute to better mutual understanding and to strengthen regional stability.

During his stay in Belgrade, Croatian President will meet ethnic Croat representatives and representatives of associations of Croatian Serb Refugees.