I came here together with President Tadic to give you good news - there will be no more political obstructions to the two countries' economic cooperation, those times have passed, Josipovic said addressing those attending the Croatia-Serbia Economic Forum in Zagreb's Westin hotel.

It is true that some Serbian companies have been discriminated against at public tenders in Croatia, as were Croatian companies in Serbia, but it is our duty to prevent any form of future discrimination and raise awareness that only healthy market competition can yield good results, Josipovic said.

There are those in Croatia and Serbia who think that investments from Serbia are not welcome, but I deny that, Croatia welcomes all investments, including those from Serbia, Josipovic said.

He is confident that Croatia and Serbia could intensify cooperation in the energy sector, the chemical and metal industries, transport, launching oil products, equipping industrial and energy facilities, manufacturing railroad engines and cars, launching farming machines and equipment, manufacturing pharmaceutical products, etc.

Croatia import high quality fruit and vegetables for its food processing industry and Croatia has resources that are complementary with those in Serbia, Josipovic said.

Serbian President Tadic reiterated that both countries suffered from similar "chronic diseases" such as deficit, poor export and import indicators, high debt, strong social pressure and expectations that the state can solve all problems, adding that this was why political and economic cooperation was even more important.

Cooperation between Croatia and Serbia is important for relations in the region and steps we take today will open a new window of opportunity for cooperation - not the kind we had in the former Yugoslavia - and all those trying to go back to those times are very wrong, Tadic said.

At this time of global crisis both Croatia and Serbia are on the edge of an economic breakdown due to the poor structure of our economies, which are more import- than export-oriented, uncompetitive and with growth rates depending on domestic consumption - but today we have learned our lesson, Tadic said.

There can be no high growth rates until we change the structure and orientation of production, we need high technologies, Tadic said. The exploitation of joint resources is a prerequisite for that, because individually we do not have enough resources to appear at European food production markets, let alone high technology markets.

Tadic said there were numerous capacities in the defence industry, adding that cooperation could be advanced in the software industry, the IT sector and the construction industry.