Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that he would not want to "add fuel to the flames of poor relations between Serbs and Croats" and that efforts should be made to improve these relations in the future.

Vucic made the statement during a visit to the southern Serbian city of Nis where he was asked by the press to comment on an incident that had occurred in central Zagreb earlier in the day when two lawmakers representing the Serb minority in the Croatian parliament had food thrown at them while passing through an open-air fruit and vegetables market.

Vucic said that “emotions always run high” when it came to Serb-Croat relations and that his message was conciliatory because no one would benefit from a conflict.

“I would like Croatia to understand that we have a common future and that we can differ on issues from the past. … I am absolutely certain that the Serbs and the Croats … must build their future together,” the Serbian president said as quoted by local media.

The Serb National Council said in a statement on Friday that Milorad Pupovac and Boris Milosevic, who represent the Independent Democratic Serb Party in the Croatian Parliament, had food leftovers thrown at them while passing through Zagreb’s Dolac Market.

They said they believed the attack was prompted by hatred. The Belgrade tabloid Blic said on Friday evening that Vucic and Pupovac had spoken on the phone about the incident.

They also discussed the status of the ethnic Serbs in Croatia and concluded that “regardless of the differences of views of the past between Serbia and Croatia, it is necessary to work on improving relations in the future,” Blic said on its website.