During her official visit to Croatia, the new Chairwoman of Bosnia’s Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo, thanked Croatia’s Government for its support for BiH’s EU and NATO integration, while Croatia’s Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, stressed the importance of continuing BiH’s electoral reform.

“I want to congratulate Ms Borjana Kristo on her election, I am extremely glad that the Council of Ministers was formed really quickly and efficiently this time. I wish her much success in her work, the reform process and progress on the European path”, Plenkovic said.

He said that he wants to continue working to establish good neighbourly relations with BiH and to help BiH fulfil the conditions for further EU integration after it becomes a membership candidate.

Plenkovic stressed that he would like to see the process of electoral reform continue in BiH “so that all peoples, and above all I mean the Croats here, have honest and fair elections”.

“Today we agreed to hold a joint session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Government of Croatia in Zagreb in order to give an impetus to the strengthening of cooperation. We also want our cooperation regarding the control of illegal migration to be improved. The Croatian Government’s political position is that we neither want nor will build physical barriers at the borders. That is our firm commitment. Instead of building such physical obstacles, we want to improve cooperation between the police and the Ministry of Interior, improve all other aspects of border control, and in this way send a message of openness to cooperation, while at the same time preventing illegal migration”, he stressed.

Kristo thanked Croatia for its support to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the European and NATO path.

“Now it is up to us to implement reforms along the way, to fulfil the conditions expected of us”, she said.

Journalists then asked Kristo whether there is a possibility of political leaders agreeing on a new Election Law soon.

“It is the interest of BiH above all, and it needs to be in the interest of each of the constituent nations. We must do everything to ensure that the Croat people have equal rights when it comes to electing representatives in political institutions,” she said.