Bosnian Croat leader visits the LNG terminal on the Island of Krk

The Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina and President of the HDZ-BiH visited Croatia on Monday, where he was received by his host, the Speaker of Croatian Parliament.

The focus of the talks between the two men was on the October elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For his part Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković emphasized the importance of ensuring the rights of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina: "We offer our strong support to Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding its European integration. But I will repeat once again, the exceptional importance of ensuring the equality and protecting the rights of Croats as a constituent peoples, and that through dialogue with Serbs and Bosnian Muslims, we achieve solutions that will ensure their survival and a high quality of life."

The two men also discussed the Resolution on Strengthening the Political Position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina that was adopted by Croatian Parliament last week.

"We fully support the content of the declaration because it is incorporated into the constitution and the spirit of Dayton. I didn't see anything in the resolution that would garner a negative response. That’s why we supported it. The equality of the Croatian people is a constitutional category, as is our sovereignty, integrity and constitutivity. And that is all part of this resolution," added the Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina and President of the HDZ-BiH, Dragan Čović.

Čović and Jandroković then travelled to the Island of Krk, where they visited the LNG terminal on the island. The terminal will feed the planned Southern Gas Interconnection pipeline between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here’s what Jandroković said about the timeline for the project’s implementation: "There is still a lot that needs to be done, Croatia has to build another 74 kilometers of pipeline, and Bosnia and Herzegovina twice that. But all the prerequisites are in place to bring this project to fruition in the next few years."

"As opposed to some I think this will take us four to five years. Building out all of this infrastructure is a demanding job. Additionally, we'll be working on two to three things in parallel, infrastructure, gasification, but also consumption so that we have energy sources we previously didn't have," Čović added.

Source: HRT