"I'm sorry that President Tadic is not coming. I think that it is a missed opportunity to start dialogue as soon as possible," Josipovic said in the interview published on Wednesday, adding that he did not see Tadic's decision as an act of animosity towards him or towards Croatia.

Describing Tadic's decision as part of Serbia's policy which he did not consider the most sensible one or one that would give any results, Josipovic said that it was Serbia's internal matter and he would not interfere in it.

He added that he would like to meet with Tadic as soon as possible, noting that Serbia's and Croatia's differing positions on Kosovo should not affect the future development of their relations.

He described Croatian-Serbian relations as insufficiently good, adding that the current generation of politicians had no right to leave their problems to the generations to come.

Commenting on a recent statement by President Stjepan Mesic about the possible deployment of troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Josipovic said he saw Mesic's statement as a metaphor, the purpose of which was to underline the need to preserve Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"Croatia definitely has no ambition to send its army anywhere, except to serve in NATO operations, and there was no serious intention of threatening anyone," he said.

He added that Bosnia-Herzegovina was a sovereign, friendly and neighbouring country which was interested in preserving its Croat community and making sure that it had a good status, as well as that relations between the country's three constituent peoples had to be regulated by those peoples.

Speaking of the European integration process, Josipovic said that Croatia would help all neighbouring countries with its advice, experience and translations of EU documents because it was in its interest to see the entire region join the EU as soon as possible.

Speaking of the fight against corruption and organised crime, Josipovic said that cooperation with neighbouring countries was of vital importance in that fight.