Highway Between Serbia, BiH To Become Path To Understanding, Forgiveness - President

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2019) The highway between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will be a path to mutual understanding and forgiveness for the peoples of the region after the wars in the former Yugoslavia, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday.

"Today there is an opportunity to show that we, taking care of ourselves and our future, can put our relations in order on our own. Roads are needed to understand each other better, and in the end forgive each other without bitterness and fear," Vucic said at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Belgrade-Sarajevo highway.

He noted that without roads, "the region was full of doubt, fear and hatred."

The total cost of the highway in Serbia is 1.05 billion Euros ($1.15 billion). One its section on Serbian territory to the border with BiH is 18 kilometers (11 miles) long, and the second will be 60 kilometers long. The main object on the highway is a 1.3-kilometer bridge across the river of Sava, which will be connecting the two countries.

The ceremony was attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who arrived in Belgrade on Monday for a two-day visit, together with members of the government and a delegation of 200 Turkish entrepreneurs.

After a solemn meeting in the government complex Chamber of Serbia, a meeting of the Supreme Council for Bilateral Cooperation took place, followed by a conversation between the two presidents, and the signing of nine intergovernmental agreements in various sectors. Vucic emphasized the importance of the agreement on defense cooperation between Belgrade and Ankara and numerous infrastructure projects.

Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence and the Bosnian War erupted between Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croatians. The war was put to an end by the 1995 Dayton Agreement, which formed three new entities - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian-majority Republika Srpska and the self-governing Brcko District. The governance of Bosnia and Herzegovina is exercised by the presidency formed by three members representing the country's Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian populations. The state is headed by one of the presidency's members on rotation basis.