Serbia to strengthen relations with BiH: president

BELGRADE, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- Serbia wishes to further friendly relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and avoid problematic issues that could burden their good economic cooperation, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said here Wednesday after meeting members of the BiH's tripartite presidency.

According to a press release from the president's office, Vucic said that three key political topics on the table at the meeting with chairman of Bosnia's presidency, Dragan Covic, along with Bakir Izetbegovic and Mladen Ivanic, were the infrastructural connection between capital cities Belgrade and Sarajevo, ongoing border talks between the two countries, and BiH's attitude towards the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia's southern province that unilaterally declared independence in 2008.

He explained that trade between BiH and Serbia amounted to 1.5 billion euros (1.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first ten months of 2017 and grows by 200 million euros each year, making BiH one of Serbia's biggest trading partners. The Serbian president suggested that political relations should follow the economic ones.

Vucic said the Belgrade-Sarajevo highway would be important for the connection between people on both sides of the border, which would probably extend from the E763 highway that Serbia is currently building towards Montenegro.

He announced that both countries would continue to work toward solving open border issues, mostly by offering to exchange smaller territories.

Members of the BiH presidency also met Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, with whom they discussed ways to improve bilateral cooperation, strengthen economic cooperation, and European integration. Enditem