SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The newly-appointed president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, has arrived in Sarajevo on her first official foreign visit.
Grabar-Kitarovic was welcomed with state honors at the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Bosnian capital by Chairman Mladen Ivanic and Presidency members Dragan Covic and Bakir Izetbegovic on Tuesday, two weeks after her Feb. 15 inauguration.
After a closed meeting with presidency officials, she said at a press conference: "My relationship with Bosnia is based on absolute respect of sovereignty, integrity and independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"Also, it is based on absolute respect towards the constituency and equality of Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia."
Unusually, she had traveled from the Croatian capital of Zagreb to Sarajevo by car -- a distance of about 400 kilometers -- accompanied by her delegation.
She added: "We arrived by cars because I wanted to show how close Sarajevo and Zagreb are.
"The purpose of today's visit is to send the message of friendship, good neighborly relations and of cooperation between the two countries."
Croats are one of three constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
