Croatia and Slovenia should address their outstanding issues "through dialogue in the spirit of our good neighbourly relations" rather than communicate through protest notes, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said in a note to the Slovenian Embassy in Zagreb in connection with Croatia's intention to proclaim an economic zone in the Adriatic Sea.

The note came as a response to the Slovenian note of August 11 in which Slovenia expressed its position in the event that Croatia proclaims an exclusive economic zone in its part of the Adriatic.

In the latest note, Croatia said that the issue was discussed in Ljubljana on May 13, 2003, and that Zagreb was still awaiting a response to its proposal that representatives of the two countries meet between September 15 and 19.

The sea boundary between the two countries is just one of several issues that remain unresolved, and which continue to cloud bilateral relations.

(NewsBase 25.viii.03)