Former foes Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro pledged Monday to make joint efforts to normalize bilateral relations and join the European Union during Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's landmark visit to Belgrade.

As the first Croatian head of government to visit here since the collapse of the former Yugoslav Federation in the early 1990s, Sanader held talks with Svetozar Marovic, president of Serbia-Montenegro, and Vojislav Kostunica, Serbian Prime Minister.

The leaders pledged to resolve all the problems that have blocked the normalization of bilateral relations on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and trust, said a communique issued after their talks.

The two countries "have confirmed their joint political goal topromote bilateral relations, strengthen regional stability and above all aspire to European integration," Marovic told reporters after the talks.

Sanader, meanwhile, describing bilateral relationship as a "keyelement for permanent stability" in Europe, said he was optimisticabout the future.

The two countries also signed an agreement on the protection ofethnic minorities during Sanader's visit.

Both Serbia and Croatia were republics of the former Yugoslav Federation. In 1991, Croatia declared independence and went into war with Belgrade from 1991 to 1995 which claimed about 20,000 lives.

Source: Xinhua