The Croatian ministry's spokeswoman Danijela Barisic confirmed the report, explaining that it was a working lunch held by the two ministers.

According to the statement released in Sarajevo, the Motovun meeting was held "in a cordial, working atmosphere.

The statement reads that it is necessary to find, by the end of this year, mutually acceptable solutions to the border dispute, Bosnia's access to the Croatian seaport of Ploce in compliance with the European Union acquis communautaire and Bosnia's interests, also a mutually acceptable solution for a road corridor through Bosnia's territory to connect Croatia's territory and to consider, together with the European Commission, all possibilities for increasing the number of border crossings for products of animal origin to be exported from Bosnia to the European Union once Croatia joins the Union.

Croatia is due to join the EU on 1 July 2013, and until then it should find ways to ensure unimpeded traffic to its southernmost tip, given that Neum, a short stretch of coastal land where Bosnia and Herzegovina has access to the Adriatic Sea, cuts off Croatia's south from the rest of the country.

Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele has called the Bosnian and the Croatian foreign minister for a meeting in Brussels on 19 September when they are expected, together with the European Commission's officials, to seek solutions to the outstanding issues in the relations between the two neighbours.

According to the statement, during their meeting in Motovun the two ministers discussed plans to appoint task forces for each of the open issues and organise joint sessions of the two countries' governments.