The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, today at the Third Ministerial Meeting of the regional initiative “Platform for Peace in the Balkans” in Antalya, harshly criticized the attitude of the Serbian leadership, led by President Aleksandar Vučić, towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Speaking about mutual relations, Konaković assessed that the countries of the region “do not have to love each other to be good neighbors, but that honesty and responsibility are key to building trust”.
“We cannot lie and expect trust. After everything that happened during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which I call aggression, relations have been damaged. If war criminals are hiding or glorifying, we cannot talk about good neighborly relations”, he assessed.
He particularly criticized the recent meeting between officials of Serbia and Republika Srpska in Belgrade, stating that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić invited former President of RS Milorad Dodik, who was sentenced by a final verdict before the Court of BiH, to a press conference.
“If you have a press conference and you respect Bosnia and Herzegovina, why did Vučić invite the convicted Dodik to stand with him at the press conference and then send a message that he will have the strongest army in the region. Željka Cvijanović and Dodik stood next to him in Belgrade. He invited the convicted former president to stand next to him and spoke about the strongest army in the region. Is that respect? Is that correct?”, said Konaković.
He added that there is room for cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, especially in the field of infrastructure projects, where there is a common interest of all countries in the region.
At the end of his address, Konaković reiterated that he is ready for dialogue, but with clear respect for the facts and responsibilities from the past.
