Recently Croatia's authorities joined Serbian president Boris Tadic for a celebration of the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, the scientist born in the village of Smiljani , in Croatia 's Lika region. That meeting is a signal of renewed relations between Croatia and Serbia.
The two countries relations reached boiling point so many times that the future can only bring about a long period of gradual cooling off.
In fact, political ties between Zagreb and Belgrade have been warming steadily since Croatia 's war for independence from the former Yugoslavia ended ten years ago.
Today the two states have already established a high level of official cooperation. Citizens of both countries can travel across their borders without visas. As a result, Croatia 's Adriatic coast has again become a popular destination for Serbian holidaymakers - those who can afford the greatly increased prices.
The Croatia’s relations are now better with Serbia than they are with Slovenia, it is probably because in peace time they were always closer to the Serbs and because Croats dislike Slovenes. There is an ongoing dispute between the two Adriatic powers (Croatia and Slovenia) over their frontiers in the waters off the coast of the region of Istria .
Croatia and Serbia have rebuilt respectable economic ties since the war. Croatia's trade with Serbia has more than doubled over the past two years, with exports soaring from 172 million US dollars in 2003 to 400 dollars million last year and imports recording similar growth levels.
On July 21, the Croatian Prime minister Ivo Sanader and his Serbian opposite number, Vojislav Kostunica, has met to open a new border crossing in Bajakovo. The opening follows the reconstruction and completion of Croatia 's section of the Zagreb-Belgrade motorway, which was halted by the war.
No comments:
Post a Comment