Croatia's First Deputy Prime Minister Vesna Pusic said after her talks with Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, in Zagreb on Monday that "the way is being paved" for talks on dropping genocide lawsuits which Croatia and Serbia had lodged against each other, after serious steps had been made for the first time regarding the issue of people who went missing in the war.
"For the first time, serious steps have been made and serious headway is obviously ahead of us, which is paving the way for the talks on possible withdrawal of genocide lawsuits," Pusic said at a joint press conference she held with the visiting Serbian official.
"When we can see that we are moving forward regarding the issue of the missing people and that we are coming closer to the solution of that issue, then we are also close to a point when we can discuss the withdrawal of lawsuits," said Pusic, who is also Croatia's foreign minister.
"It is not an easy matter for Serbia, but we are open to talks. I hope we will find a satisfactory solution," Vucic said.
Recently, Serbia provided Croatia about information about a mass grave in Vukovar's suburb of Sotin from which remains of 13 civilian victims, who went missing after Vukovar had fallen into the hands of Serb rebels and the then Yugoslav People's Army in 1991, were subsequently unearthed.
