Speaker of Croatian Parliament, Gordan Jandrokovic, started his two-day official visit to Serbia on Wednesday. After a meeting of delegations the two countries' parliaments, Jandrokovic said he welcomed the progress made in improving the status of the Croat minority in Serbia, and announced better development of bilateral cooperation.

Leaders of both delegations described the visit as “historic”, and Speaker of the Serbian Assembly, Maja Gojkovic described it as a sign of friendship, while Jandrokovic added that parliamentary cooperation would help improve relations between the two countries, and pledged full support to Serbia on its path to European Union membership.

“We haven’t had a visit from a senior (Croatian) official to our parliament to date. This is a signal of friendship, and an important signal for the development and improvement of our relations. A new door for the cooperation between our respective parliaments has been opened,” Gojkovic said.

The two officials discussed a number of issues, including bilateral cooperation in improving the respective statuses of the ethnic Croat minority in Serbia and the ethnic Serb minority in Croatia, in addition to parliamentary and economic cooperation, ans well as Croatia’s support to Serbia in its EU integration process.

“It is important for us to implement the agreement on the protection of the minorities, and ensure the guaranteed participation of (members of) the ethnic Croat minority in (bodies of) Serbian authorities. We hope that in the future the Croat minority will have one representative in the (Serbian) Assembly, and that it will be represented in other bodies as well,” Jandrokovic said.

Speaking of the protection and improvements in status of the Serb minority in Croatia and the Croat minority in Serbia, Jandrokovic said that progress had been made after a recent visit to Croatia by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and as signs of this improvement he mentioned the opening of a Croatian language instruction office at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, and Serbia’s investment into the renovation of the house of the Croatian national hero Count Josip Jelacic, who was the Viceroy of Croatia in the mid-19th century, in the northern Serbian town of Petrovaradin.

The two officials said that all outstanding issues could be dealt with regardless of differing views by the two countries, and emphasised the importance of having a neighbourly dialogue.

“It is important for us to talk. We are aware that we have unresolved issues from the past and we need to address them. That is the main reason why I am here, in spite of critics who would like to see a different kind of relationship between our two countries,” Jandrokovic said.