Croatia and Bosnia vow to boost ties

The governments of Croatia and Bosnia pledged Monday to further boost ties between the two former Yugoslav republics at their historic first joint session.

"This is ... a historic moment since today an even stronger cooperation between Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina is starting," Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said opening the meeting in the central coastal town of Split.

"We want to boost economic and cross-border cooperation," she added, stressing that Croatia had the longest border with Bosnia.

"We proved that it is not something that is separating us. The border is a place of meetings and contacts," she said in a reference to an almost 1,000 kilometer (600 mile)-long frontier.

Kosor's Bosnian counterpart Nikola Spiric echoed the view, stressing the ties between the two countries were "going upwards."

Zagreb and Sarajevo signed two deals on Monday -- on cooperation of police in the fight against cross-border crime and in electronic communications.

Croatia is Bosnia's most important trade partner, while Sarajevo is among Zagreb's main partners.

In 2009, Croatia's exports to Bosnia totaled seven billion kunas (984 million euros, 1.2 billion dollars) while imports amounted to 2.9 billion kunas (414 million euros, 514 million dollars), according to Zagreb figures.

Ties between Sarajevo and Zagreb have been gradually improving since the end of Bosnia's 1992-1995 war during which the then Croatian regime backed secessionists aspirations of Bosnian Croats.

On Monday, Kosor reiterated Croatia's support to both a "one single Bosnia ... and Bosnian Croats."

Croats account for around 10 percent of Bosnia's population of 3.8 million.