Croatia wants Montenegro to give it back the training ship Jadran because it is symbolically important to Croats, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday, while his Montenegrin counterpart Dritan Abazovic said his country is "also presumably entitled to something from the dissolution of Yugoslavia."

The 60-metre-long sailing ship was built in 1933 and was entered in the fleet registers of Croatian ports until 1991, when it departed from its home port of Split for Montenegro for an overhaul and never returned. It remains a bilateral dispute between Zagreb and Podgorica.

In late July this year Montenegro marked the 90th anniversary of the ship, which prompted Croatia to lodge a protest note with Podgorica for “appropriating its property”.

The issue of the vessel was raised at the start of the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia on Monday.

“The state of Montenegro will continue to look after its property. I think that’s fair,” Abazovic said before the gathering opened, emphasising that he is not one of the politicians that use “rows in the region to score cheap political points.”

“On the contrary, I support full reconciliation. I also want people to find the common ground on much more complicated issues,” the Montenegrin PM said, sarcastically thanking Croatia for “its concern about Montenegrin property” and adding that Montenegro is “also presumably entitled to something from the dissolution of Yugoslavia.”

Responding to a question from a Montenegrin reporter, Plenkovic said that this issue should be the subject of bilateral talks and a solution should be found that would take into account “the fact that the training ship Jadran is symbolic to many Croatian seamen who trained and worked on it.”

Plenkovic will also discuss the matter on Monday with the new Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic, who is due to visit Croatia soon.