The joint statement was issued a day after the Federation's incomplete House of Peoples was inaugurated, saying Josipovic and Kosor were closely following developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the politicians in the Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Croat-Bosniak entity, failed to agree on the formation of a government that would also include representatives elected by the majority of the Croat people.

"The equality of the three constituent peoples and respecting their political will is one of the fundamental prerequisites for stability as well as for the success of the reforms facing Bosnia and Herzegovina. In that respect, the Republic of Croatia encourages all political factors in Bosnia and Herzegovina not to jeopardise the foundations of that stability, but use them to build a Euro-Atlantic future," said the statement.

The incomplete Federation parliament's House of Peoples was inaugurated in Sarajevo on Thursday, comprising the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the People's Party Work for Betterment (NSRzB), but not the HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990. The House confirmed the election of Zivko Budimir of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) as the new entity president, after which the new entity government was elected, comprising ministers from the SDP, the SDA, the HSP and the NSRzB.

The new authorities were formed under fast-track procedure by the SDP-led bloc of parties, after failed negotiations with the two HDZ parties that were mediated by the Office of the High Representative, which regretted that the party leaders had failed to agree a compromise proposal on the establishment of a broad ruling coalition in the Federation.