A Peljesac bridge and a ring-road in the Neum area are the two most serious proposals for connecting south Croatia with the rest of the country and the final choice is in Croatia's sovereign right, provided it does not prevent Bosnia and Herzegovina from having access to international waters, Bosnian Assistant Foreign Minister Amer Kapetanovic said in an interview in Sarajevo's Oslobodjenje daily of Monday.
The European Commission has clearly instructed that any option must meet three criteria - be cost-efficient, have a positive impact on the environment, and have a positive impact on regional development, Kapetanovic said, adding that the European Union would select and finance the option that met all three criteria, given that neither Croatia nor Bosnia had the money for those projects.
"We said we would be a good neighbour and partner to solve this issue through Bosnian territory so that it doesn't jeopardise our interests and helps Croatia."
Kapetanovic underlined the need to deal with the issue of Neum's traffic isolation as soon as possible, saying that as of July 1, when Croatia joined the EU, all goods for that Bosnian municipality would have to cross Croatian and EU territory.
He said Bosnia was to blame for its problems because of lateness in preparing for Croatia's EU accession, which had now brought into question a good share of exports. He said negotiations with Croatia would continue after July 1 to solve the remaining outstanding issues, one of the most important being the border.
Bosnia would like the border to be defined in line with the 1999 agreement that has not been ratified yet because of disputed demarcation near Neum bay and on the Una river, Kapetanovic said, adding that it was important to Bosnia not only to have territorial waters but the right to access the high seas as well.
