Border arbitration high on agenda during Croatian FM's Slovenia visit: report

The new Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Ivo Stier paid a working visit to Slovenia on Friday with the unresolved bilateral issues such as border arbitration and the border fence on top of the agenda, the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported.

The Croatian foreign chief will be hosted by his Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec, and will also be received by Slovenian President Borut Pahor.

Stier's second bilateral trip abroad after assuming office on Oct. 19 -- the first was to Hungary -- is expected to be dominated by Croatia's exit from the border arbitration procedure.

Croatia is now seeking alternate avenues for resolving the border dispute, but Slovenia insists on sticking to border arbitration.

Croatia withdrew from the border arbitration process in 2015 after Croatian media released a leaked phone call between the Slovenian arbiter and the country's agent.

The Zagreb-based daily newspaper Vecernji list on July 22, 2015 published transcripts and audio tapes revealing Slovenian representative on the arbitral tribunal Jernej Sekolec and Slovenian Foreign Ministry employee Simona Drenik had discussed lobbying other judges sitting on the tribunal to influence the outcome of the arbitration in Slovenia's favor. Endit