The forthcoming visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic to Zagreb on Wednesday and Thursday will represent another page in the new chapter in the relations that Tadic and his Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic began practically as soon as Josipovic took office.

From the informal meeting of the two presidents in Opatija at the end of March 2010, to Josipovic's visit to Belgrade in the summer, to the joint visit to the execution sites in Vukovar and Paulin Dvor at the beginning of November, Tadic and Josipovic determined the direction of new relations between the two countries - commitment to reconciliation and good neighbourly relations between Serbia and Croatia, but also between all Western Balkan countries in general.

The topics of talks are indicated by the program of the visit: after meeting with Croatian state officials and participating in a business forum in Zagreb, Tadic and Josipovic will visit several towns in Croatia which are populated with Serbs.

Croatia is in favor of good relations with Serbia and wants to develop them with the aim of solving the remaining open issues. We are pleased to assess that the bilateral relations have considerably improved, the Croatian Foreign Ministry has stated.

The two countries' prime ministers and ministers follow the same direction. In May 2010, Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor handed to her Serbian counterpart Mirko Cvetkovic the Croatian translation of the EU legislature, and the Croatian Foreign Ministry stressed that Zagreb advocated the visa liberalization for the Serbian citizens.

The cooperation between the two countries' police and judiciary has been in the focus of public attention in the past several months, which resulted in the arrests of the criminals active in the region.

The cooperation has improved in the military plan as well, as during the visit of Serbian Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac to Zagreb in June an agreement was signed which enables, among other things, the joint development of the military production.

Trade and economic cooperation are also on the rise. There is an imbalance in the amounts of investments - while Croats invest in Serbia, there are practically no Serbian investments in Croatia. This is nevertheless justified by the absence of favourable conditions for the Serbian investments in Croatia, and a favourable climate for investing in Serbia.

The Serbian tourists are not among the most numerous ones at the Croatian seaside, but their number is increasing. There have been several incidents in which Serbian tourists were the victims, regarding which the Croatian Tourism Ministry, Interior Ministry and other state institutions promptly reacted.

Josipovic on Tadic's visit to Vukovar and war heritage

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic stated on Monday that the topic of the meeting with his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic, who will pay an official visit to Croatia on Wednesday, will not be the possible withdrawal of Croatia's genocide lawsuit against Serbia.

"The government is the one to decide on the possible withdrawal of the genocide lawsuit," Josipovic stressed in a statement for the Media Service, adding that he has always claimed that the purpose of the lawsuit is beyond its submittal.

According to certain electronic media, Josipovic said that he thinks "it is high time for the public to learn the truth - the lawsuit will not determine who the aggressor was, even though we know it, or specify the damages of war, as the lawsuit does not refer to these issues."

We have to be aware that this is a serious case, and that the entire process will be difficult, lengthy and expensive, Josipovic added.

Speaking about his forthcoming talks with Tadic, Josipovic said that he would require from the Serbian president that further efforts be made in finding clues which might help resolve the fate of the missing.

The Croatian president underlined that he will insist on the resolving of the fate of all the people that have gone missing, and that the reconciliation project cannot be completed until light has been shed on what had happened and until all victims are identified.

"Now that Serbia has a new policy, I really did not expect that it would be possible for the country to find in such a short time all the documents refering to crimes, which had disappeared or were hidden all these years," Josipovic said. Noting that Tadic's visit to Vukovar on November 4 was a good move which represented "a step towards a new future," Josipovic stressed that no parallel can be drawn between the Croatian and Serbian crimes in that town.

We appreciate symbolic moves, like the one that Tadic made. Although such moves do not solve the problems we have, they do encourage the process. Of course, we know very well who the aggressor was and who the victims were, but one must recognize

that crimes were committed by the other side as well, Josipovic said, adding that, even though the killing of 19 (Serb) people in Paulin Dvor near Osijek is a major crime, it cannot be compared to the crime in Vukovar.