November 3 (SeeNews) - The Croatian parliament has given the go-ahead to the government to sign an arbitration agreement with Slovenia on a long-running border row between the two countries, Croatian state-run news agency Hina reported.
The deal was approved after a day-long parliamentary debate on Monday, Hina (www.hina.hr) reported.
“The agreement provides for setting up an arbitral tribunal to determine the two countries' sea and land border, Slovenia's contact with the high seas and a regime for the use of relevant maritime areas,” the news agency said.
The parliament also adopted a statement on non-prejudgement which states that nothing in the arbitration agreement shall be understood as consent on Croatia's part to Slovenia's claim of its territorial contact with the high seas, Hina said.
The statement will be signed before the ratification of the arbitration agreement in parliament.
In September, Croatia and European Union member Slovenia reached an agreement on the resumption of accession talks between the bloc and the government in Zagreb and on continuing their negotiations on the border dispute.
Croatia's EU membership talks, launched in 2005, hit a major snag last December when its neighbour Slovenia vetoed any further progress in the negotiations because of a dispute over their Adriatic sea border in the Bay of Piran. The dispute is dating back to the collapse in 1991 of the former Yugoslav Federation, of which both Croatia and Slovenia were parts.