Balkan Leaders To Sign Joint Statement

7 November 2005 -- The presidents of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro are expected to sign a joint declaration today pledging improved cooperation between the three formerly warring members of ex-Yugoslavia.

The signing comes after the three presidents -- the head of Bosnia's presidential troika Ivo Miro Jovic, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, and Serbia and Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic -- met on Mount Igman near Sarajevo yesterday to discuss mutual relations 10 years after the end of the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Reports say the joint document calls for future relations to be based on mutual respect of sovereignty and internal affairs and for cooperation toward joining the European Union.

(AP/AFP)