Mutual withdrawal of Croatia's genocide lawsuit against Serbia and Serbia's counter-suit before the International Court of Justice is possible provided that certain conditions are met, and so far there are no new circumstances, the spokeswoman for the Croatian Foreign and European Affairs said on Friday.
Serbia's new foreign minister Ivan Mrkic told the Belgrade-based "Vecernje Novosti" on Friday that agreement with Croatia on the withdrawal of the genocide lawsuits was possible "and that in this vein, circumstances are being developing into the positive direction". He also announced that he would soon meet his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic.
"I can recall that Minister Pusic has said on several occasions that we are willing to talk about the genocide lawsuits only if we can before reach agreement on other outstanding issues: the missing people, restitution of plundered works of art and war crimes prosecution," Barisic said.
According to the spokeswoman, Pusic held a brief telephone conversation with Mrkic on 27 July to congratulate him on his appointment and on that occasion the two ministers expressed their commitment to the continuation of cooperation in bilateral relations, in stability in the region an the region's European Union integration aspirations.
As for a Pusic-Mrkic meeting, Barisic said that it would be certainly organised but a time frame had not yet ben set.
In July 1999 Croatia filed the lawsuit against Serbia for genocide and war crimes committed during the 1991-1995 war, and on 18 November 2008, the ICJ declared its jurisdiction.
In January 2010, Serbia lodged the counter-suit before the ICTY.
