Croatian President Ivo Josipovic's meeting with his Serbian counterpart Boris Tadic in the Croatian seaside resort of Opatija on Wednesday was one of the biggest news stories in Serbia.
According to B92, the two presidents announced during their first meeting a new era in Serbia-Croatia relations and expressed mutual support for the European integration of Croatia and Serbia.
The two presidents discussed all outstanding issues and agreed on ways of resolving them in the spirit of European partnership, Serbian media said.
According to the national broadcaster RTS, Tadic and Josipovic said an out-of-court settlement could be the solution to the mutual genocide lawsuits the two countries filed with the International Court of Justice.
The two heads of state said the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina must not be brought into question, and advocated a European partnership between Croatia and Serbia with a view to bringing all countries in the region into the EU and setting European values in the region, RTS said.
Web portals said the meeting of the two presidents was a surprise to many given anticipations that they would officially meet for the first time in Brussels on Saturday.
Some political analysts said the Josipovic-Tadic talks were expected to pave the way for the advancement of Serbia-Croatia relations, which have been at a very low ebb for the past year, it was said.
