The Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Zlatko Lagumdžija received today the Ambassador of Ireland to BIH Kieran Dowling, who has a seat in Ljubljana.
Lagumdžija spoke to Dowling about the most important details of the trilateral meeting of ministers of BiH, Croatia and European Commission that was held on 15 February in Brussels.
He said that Croatia has agreed to send a request to EU member states for BiH citizens to enter Croatia with their ID cards starting on 1 July 2013.
With this in mind, he expressed the hope that the Irish presidency of the Council of the European Union would soon receive the request from Croatia and underlined that BiH and Croatia expressed interest in maintain the current border agreement.
Lagumdžija said that this issue requires a political decision of EU member states, because it goes beyond the competence of the European Commission. He said that he hopes Ireland will recognize the sensitivity and importance of this issue and that during its Presidency of the EU it will pledge to maintain the regime that has already been successful for 10 years.
He added that the same would not jeopardize the concept of the security of the EU, because BiH citizens with their ID cards and fully compliant with ICAO standards would not be able to leave Croatia and enter the Schengen zone.
During the meeting they spoke of bilateral relations between BiH and Croatia, which were assessed to be good and friendly, as well as the opportunities for improvement, and priorities of the six-month Irish Presidency of the EU Council, which include the Western Balkans and enlargement policy.
Dowling said that Ireland is a proven friend of BiH, and it will remain this way, especially when it comes to the European integration of BiH.
